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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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1 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



imi;: 



VI' 



Birthday Mottoes, 



SELECTED FROM THE 



.Writings of E. P. Roe. 



UV 9 

LYMAN ABBOTT. 



I am not afraid to inform llie rc-ader that tliese books are written with 
tlie iionest, earnest purpose of helping; liim to <lo ripht ; and success in tiiis 
respect is the best reward I crave.— Neak to Natuke'^ Heart. 




NEW YORl 

DODD, MEAD & COMPANY, 



PUBLISHERS, 



■ ..A A- 



Copyright, 1882, 
By DODD, MEAD & COMPANY. 



PREFACE. 

In the preparation of this little volume the a.m 
has been to select from the published writings of 
Mr. E. P. Roe, not merely striking sentences, but 
appropriate birthday mottoes. When practicable, 
the motto has been adapted to the character 
whose birth it celebrates. 

Every truly successful writer has the power of 
stating truth so that it shall seem true to his read- 
ers. If they are the cultivated few, the critics 
will recognize this power ; if they are the many, 
by the many this power will be recognized. Gen- 
erally an analysis of his writings will discover in 
them diamond-like sentences, luminous and keen, 
whose brightness and edge are due to a diamond- 
like quality — much value in little space. This lit- 
tle volume may serve both to illustrate this truth 
and to disclose one secret of Mr. E. P. Roe's phe- 
nomenal success in American literature — his power 



to coin truth into proverbial forms which give it 
currency among the people. 

The habit of observing the family birthdays 
adds to the sacred ties which bind the household 
together. I hope this little volume of birthday 
mottoes, culled from the pages of a warm personal 
friend, whose ministry to American homes has 
never been fully recognized, may do something 
toward promoting such observances, and so add- 
ing to the significance and value of these anniver- 
saries of love. 

L. A. 



Januarg, 



Even in January there are days of sudden re- 
lenting, when the frost's icy grasp upon nature 
seems to relax. Days that rightfully belong to 
spring drop down upon us with birds that have 
come before their time. But such days may end 
in a northeast snow-storm, and the birds perish. 
Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



January i. 

Precipitous ascents and descents do not con- 
stitute tlie greater part of life's journey. In the 
experience of very many they occur more or less 
frequently, but they conduct to long intervals 
where the way is comparatively level, although it 
may be flinty, rough, and hedged with thorns. 
More often the upward trend or the decline of our 
paths is so slight as not to be noticed as we pass 
on, but at the end of years we can know well 
whether we are gaining or losing. 

Without a Home. 

January 2. 

The sun glowed not far above the horizon. Its 
level rays lighted up her face, making it so beauti- 
ful and noble that I felt assured that I had come 
to the right one for light and guidance. 

A Day of Fate. 

She was very practical, and possessed of a 

brave, resolute nature. 

What Can She Do ? 



January i. 



January 2. 



January 3. 



He doesn't begin to know, himself, how much 
of a man he is, but the experience of Hfe will fast 
develop him. He is one who will master circum- 
stances, and not be moulded by them, Obstacles 

will only stimulate his will. 

WitJioiit a Home. 

She's good at heart, and I think is trying to do 

right, 

A Day of Fate. 

\ 

January 4. 



All power brings responsibility, even that which 
a man achieves or buys ; but surely, if one receives 
Heaven's most exquisite gifts, bestowed as directly 
as this marvellous beauty without, and so is made 
pre-eminent in power and influence, she is under a 
double responsibility to use that power for good. 

From yest to Earnest, 



January 3. 
Cicero, b.c. 106. 



January 4. 



January 5. 



' ' You are not matter-of-fact at all. You are 
unconventional, unique — " 

" Why not say queer, and give your meaning in 
good plain English?" 

' ' Because that is not my meaning. I fear you 
are worse — that you are romantic." 

A Day 0/ Fate. 



January 6. 



His face had the calm, strong expression of one 
who had counted 'the cost, who was wholly conse- 
crated, and who. without a thought of self, pro- 
posed to serve a cause in which he fully believed, 
leaving to God the issu?. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 

Kindness and human fellowship will unbar and 
unbolt where all other forces may clamor in vain. 

What Can She Do ? 



January 5, 



January 6. 

Charles Sumner. 181 1. 

Joan of Arc. 14 12. 



January 7. 



If the beautifying Christian graces could dwell 

within her soul and light up her face, as lamps 

some rare and quaint transparency, there would 

then be a loveliness that would realize the artist's 

fondest ideal. 

Barriers Biinied Away. 

Thank God for work ! It's the best antidote this 

world has for trouble, 

A Day of Fate. 



January 8. 



The sweetest music that reaches heaven is the 
honest cry for help to forsake sin ; and the more 
sinful the heart that thus cries out for deliverance 
the more welcome the appeal. 

" He is a perfect gentleman," was the verdict of 
the best society wherever he appeared. 

Knight of the Nmeteenth Century. 



January 7, 



January 8. 



January g. 



* ' You are the truest and best friend a woman 

ever had." 

Withoiit a Home. 

Make the most of the world, and never endure 
evils till they come, are my maxims. Half of suf- 
fering is anticipation of possible or probable evil. 

Barriers Burned Away. 



January io. 



Strong popular movements are generally sur- 
prises, but the springs of united and generous 
action are ever within reach, if one by skill or 
accident can touch them. Even perverted human 
nature is capable of sweet and noble harmonies, if 

rightly played upon. 

From yest to Ear7iest. 

" She will make a noble woman." 

A Day of Fate. 



IO 



January 9. 



January 10. 



II 



January ii. 



Well-bred men and women act and appear very 
much alike in the public eye. But there is an inner 
life, a real character, upon which happiness here 
and heaven hereafter depend, which results largely 
from that tie and intimacy that is closest of all. 

Her intense earnestness put a soul into the body 

of her words. 

Opetiing a Chestnut Burr. 



January 12. 



With all his faults, he had no small vanity to 
mislead him, and was sufficiently pure and noble. 

Her face, which had been full of sunshine and 
mirthfulness even in darkest days, grew unwontedly 
thoughtful and oppressed with care ; but her feat- 
ures were none the less lovely, as they began to 
express womanly solicitude and responsibility in- 
stead of a child's light-hearted confidence. 

Near to Nature'' s Heart. 



12 



January ii. 
Bayard Taylor, 1825. 



January 12. 
Alfred Tennyson. 18 10. 



r3 



January 13. 



" Time shall at least show one thing — that I can 
be patient and true." 

Loving eyes are often the most blind, and that 
which is seen daily ceases to seem strange. 

Without a Home. 



January 14. 



Her looks and words revealed her thought as a 
crystal stream a white pebble over which it flows. 

Gaunt famine has been the inmate of households, 
while there were buried treasures under the hearth- 
stone. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



14 



January 13. 



January 14. 



15 



January 15. 



How long, long ago God planned and purposed 
to win the sympathy and confidence of the suffer- 
ing by coming so close to them in like experience 
that they could feel sure — yes, know — that he felt 
with them and for them. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 



January 16, 



The world is full of people who are proud and 
self-respecting in the extreme, who are honorable 
and virtuous, good and kindly at heart, but whose 
wills are nerveless, though they may go safely 
through life without suspecting this truth. 

Without a Home. 



16 



January 15. 
Moliere. 1622. 



January 16. 



17 



January 17. 

In our brief life, with its fierce competitions, few 
other than what are known as "one idea" men 
have time to succeed. Even genius must drive 
with tremendous and concentrated energy, to dis- 
tance competitors. 

W/iat Can She Do ? 

The slope of her shoulders was grace itself. She 
did not lean back weakly or languidly, but sat erect, 
with the quiet, easy poise of vigor and health. 

A Day 0/ Fate. 



January 18. 



The disciple of old could not always understand 
his Lord ; no more can we. We often shrink from 
that which is given in love, and grasp tt that which 
would destroy. Though but little, weak, erring 
children, we would impose on the all-wise God our 
way, instead of meekly accepting his way. 

A Day 0/ Fate. 



January 17. 
Benjamin Franklin. 1706. 



January 18. 

Daniel Webster. 1782, 

Montesquieu. 1689. 



19 



January 19. 



" The thought of her is an inspiration toward a 
purer, better manhood than I have yet known. 
Her truth and innate nobility produce an intense 
desire to become like her, so that she may look into 
my eyes and trust also." 

" He's a fixed and certain quantity, and a good 

point to measure from. I like him because he is so 

sincere." 

A Bay of Fate. 



January 20. 



' ' I can read men as you would read a book. If 
you were not trustworthy I should know it at a 
glance." 

Christian principle doesn't mean a cotton-and- 

W06I nature, or a milk-and-water experience, to put 

it in a homely way. 

Without a Home. 



20 



January tq. 



/. Watts. 1736. 



January 20, 



21 



January 21. 



"That is the sin of our age — making faces," 
said Annie. "Many have two, and some can 
make for themselves even more." 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

"Are you very amiable after dinner?" 
" No ; that's a trait belonging to men alone." 

A Day of Fate. 



January 22. 

Many, in their suicidal blindness and remorse, 
pass sentence upon themselves, and weakly deliver 
their souls into the keeping of that inexorable 
jailer, Despair, forgetting the possibilities — nay, 
certainties of good that ever dwell in God. If 
man had no better friend than himself, his pros- 
pects would be sombre indeed. 

Morbidness could no more exist in her presence 
than shadows on the sunny side of trees. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



22 



January 21. 



January 22. 
Lord Baco7i. 15610 
Lo7^d Byron. 1788. 



23 



January 23. 



' ' I am glad to say the best things in this world 
are ordinary and common." 

Though she had not made the slightest effort, 

some influence from her had stolen upon him like 

a cool breeze on a sultry day, and wooed him as 

gently as the perfume of a flower that is sweet to 

all. 

Openhig a Chestfiut Bn7'r. 



January 24. 



It is surprising how character impresses itself on 
one's surroundings. 

I often find nonsense a sort of life preserver that 

keeps me from sinking. 

Without a Home. 



24 



January 23. 



January 24. 
Frederick the Great. 17 12. 



25 



January 25. 

The conflict between inclination and the sense 
of right creates a feverish unrest, in which one 
cannot settle down to ordinary pursuits and duties. 
If principle holds the reins, and the voice of con- 
science is clear and authoritative, the disturbed 
mental and moral state will end in the firm choice 
of duty, and consequent peace and rest. 

F}-07n yest to Earttest. 

" Oh, but you are a gem of a woman !" I cried. 
"A few more like you would bring the millen- 
nium." 

A Day of Fate. 

January 26. 

Some natures can pocket a fair lady's refusal 
with a good-natured shrug as merely a bad venture 
and hope for better luck next time, but more can- 
not, especially if they are played with and de- 
ceived. 

Opening of a Chestnut Bur}-. 

** I'd take a much greater risk to win your friend- 
ship, and if you'll give it to me I'll be very proud 

of it." 

A Day of Fate. 



20 



January 25. 
Robert Burns, 1759. 



January 26. 



27 



January 27. 



As Christian and sensible people we are bound 
to accept our life and make the best of it. 

Her own sorrowful experience made her tender 
toward the unfortunate ones for whom she cared, 
and her words and manner brought balm and heal- 
ing to many sad hearts. 

Without a Home. 



January 28. 



"A child's penny toy will hide a great mountain 

if held too near the eyes. It is thus the eyes of 

the worldly are blinded by trifles till I fear some 

will never see God or heaven. But He is teaching 

you better. As long as you follow His gentle 

leadings, and the pure impulses of your own heart, 

all will be well." 

From Jest to Earnest. 



28 



January 27 
Mozart. 1756, 



January 28, 



29 



January 2g. 

" What is the secret of your strength ? Your 
religion seems to do you more good than mine 
does me." 

" Well, Jennie," said Ida musingly, " there 
seems to me this difiference. You have a God, I 
have a Saviour ; you have a faith, I have a tender 
and helpful Friend." 

A Paw Jllic7niiicd. 

"To think rather that she waited on me for 

days and nights together. Well, I could turn 

Catholic and worship one saint." 

A Day of Fate. 

January 30, 



' ' If the world would only worship such saints — 
lovely, unselfish, and living women — there would 
be more hope for humanity." 

"Never shed tears over troubles that may not 

come." 

Near to Natuj-e's Heart. 



30 



jANirARY 29. 

Swedcnborg . 1688. 



January 30. 
Walter Savage La u dor. 1775. 



31 



January 31. 

" lie is a 'well-meaning' man, but he and many 
others remind me of one not having the slightest 
ear for music trying to catch a difficult harmony." 

"Why is the harmony so difficult?" asked Wal- 
ter bitterly. 

"Perhaps it were better to ask, 'Why has 
humanity so disabled itself ?' " 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



32 



January 31, 
Franz Schubert, 1797. 



33 



jFcbruarj). 



The holidays are past, and Santa Claushas either 
remembered us, or we were obliged to remember 
that we were Santa Claus. Snow and sleigh-riding 
have lost their novelt}-. We have been to town, 
read the new books, had the influenza, nearly 
finished our lecture course, and in brief have al- 
most exhausted the proper things of the winter sea- 
son. The days are growing longer, and, often, 
something in their sunnier light and warmer breath 
reminds us of the friends in the garden, who are 
sleeping in their winter graves, still deep under the 
snow ; but we know the time of resurrection is 
coming, when in robes new and rainbow-hued, they 
will rise from the earth into beautiful life. 

Flay and Profit in My Garden. 



35 



February i. 

She widely differed from some prudent people 
who must take an emotion to pieces, and resolve it 
into its original elements, and thus be sure that it 
is properly caused and wholesome before enjoying 
it. Many seem to partake of life's pleasures, as 
did the members of the royal family of their feasts, 
in the days of the ancient Roman empire, when it 
was feared that poison lurked in every dish. 

From yest to Earliest. 



" How prosperous he looks I" 



A Day of Fate. 



February 2. 



Never before had the young man so full}^ realized 
how vital a privilege It was to be a disciple of 
Christ — to be near to him — and enjoy what re- 
sembled a companionship akin to that possessed by 
those who followed him up and down the rugged 
paths of Judea and Galilee. 

Knight of the Nmeteenth Cetitiay. 



3(> 



February i. 



February 2. 



37 



February 3. 

But his nature was too sanguine and healthful 
for any continued morbid brooding, and he would 
soon throw off the burden of unhappy thoughts, 
and hope for better things. 

Near to Natiu-e'^s Heart. 

A household in which affection, allied to high- 
bred courtesy and mutual respect, made even 
homely daily life noble and beautiful. 

A Face Illumined. 



February 4. 

No principles are better known than the influences 
of soil, climate, darkness, and light upon a growing 
plant. If the truth could be appreciated that cir- 
cumstances color life and character just as surely, 
marring, distorting, dwarfing, or beautifying and 
developing, according as they are friendly or ad- 
verse, the workers in the moral vineyard, instead 
of trying to obtain fruit from sickly vines, whose 
roots grope in sterility, and whose foliage is poi- 
soned, would bring the richness of opportunity to 
the soil and purify the social atmosphere. 

Without a Ho7)ie. 

"She's becoming as good as she is beautiful. 
Every day increases my respect for her." 

A Day of Fate. 

3S 



February 3, 
MendelssoJm, 1809. 



February 4. 
Mark Hopkins. 1S02, 



39 



February 5, 



" There is more of her than I thought." 

" A man's life without a hobby is a weak and 
wavering Hne of battle indefinitely long. One's 
life with a hobby is a concentrated charge." 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



February 6. 



His human nature at that time was of the old 
Saxon type, that went directly for what it wanted, 
without much thought or sentiment for those weak 
enough to lose. 

" When I was a harum-scarum boy," he mut- 
tered, " a girl with such a face could almost make 
me worship her. I don't believe boys have 

changed." 

Without a Home. 



40 



February 5. 



Fehruary 6. 
Madame Sevigne, 1626. 



4-1 



Februakv 7. 



" There are no stronger claims than those of hu- 
manity, and unconsciously you assert these in a way 
to make them most sacred." 

Neaj- to Nature's Heart. 

" It's asking a great deal to require that one 
should both preach and practise." 

A Face Illumined. 



February S. 



A brain that can direct the hand how to do one 

thing well, is like a general who has occupied a 

strategic point which will give him the victory if he 

follow up his advantage. 

A Face Ilhitnined. 

If good resolutions were only accomplished cer- 
tainties as soon as made, how different life would 

be ! 

What Can She Do ? 



42 



February 7. 
Charles Dicke?is. 1 8 1 2. 



February 8, 



43 



February q. 



More distress is caused by tliose troubles wliich 

never come, but which are feared and worried over, 

than by those which do come, teaching us, often, 

patience and faith. 

From yest to Earnest. 

" The idea of anything going contrary to his 

will or wishes !" 

A Day of Fate. 



February io. 



More potent than commands, threats, and their 
dire fulfilment, is love, which wins and entreats 
back to virtue the man whom even Omnipotence 
could not drive back. 

He was very miserable, and it is most natural, 
especially for the young, to wish to be happy. 

Knight of the Nineteettth Centu7'y. 



44 



P'ebruary 9. 



February 10, 



45 



February ii. 



But, while human kindness and consideration 

can do much to assuage this eager hunger of the 

heart, it cannot satisfy. The experience of Gethsem- 

ane is well-nigh universal, and there come to all 

hours of darkness when earthly friendship is as 

unavailable as that of the men who slept through 

their Master's grief when he was but a "stone's 

cast " away. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 



February 12. 



His face wore the soletnn aspect of one who felt 
himself charged with awful responsibilities. As he 
saw the thousands turning toward him in hope and 
trust, the burden of the nation's weal pressed heavier 
upon him. And yet there was not a trace of weak- 
ness or shrinking in view of his mighty tasks. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 



46 



February ii. 



February 12. 
Abraham Lincobi. 1809. 
La Motte-Fouque. 1777. 



47 



February 13. 



" God will bless us, if we will just simply try to 
do what is right and best every day. The blessing 
will come on doing, not waiting." 

Without a Home. 

Sunshine brought to a focus kindles even green 

wood. 

A Face Illumined. 



February 14. 

More hearts are broken into indefinite fragments 
before twenty than ever after ; but, like the broken 
bones of the young, they usually knit readily to- 
gether again, and are just as good for all practical 

purposes. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Cetitury. 

A woman's heart cannot be proof against reason, 
gratitude, and the sacred duty owed to those she 
loves best. At any rate, mine shall not be. 

Without a Home. 



February 13. 
Talleyraftd. 1754. 



February 14. 
Galileo. 1564. 



49 



February 15. 

"Yes, indeed," echoed the little boy. "Aunt 
Annie can manage anything or anybody." 

"That is a remarkable power," said Walter, 
with an amused look and side-glance at the young 
lady. " How does she do it ?" 

"Oh, I don't know," replied the boy ; "she 

sorter makes them love her, and then they want to 

do as she says." 

Openmg a Chestnut Burr. 

" I work for a living." 

" I am sure that is nothing against you." 

What Caji She Do ? 

February 16. 



He was humbled, and truth is ever ready to be 
the guest of humility. 

" Nature is a rare teacher, my little friend ; and 
she has taught you a truth which we sometimes 
forget, to our sorrow. Only the places which con- 
tain those whom we love can be homes." 

Near to Nature'' s Heart. 



50 



P^EBRUARY 15. 



February 16. 
Melanchthon. 1497. 



51 



February 17. 

" I'd rather be thought true than thought a 
genius.'' 

How sweet and luminous her face seemed in 
contrast with the vague darkness without I More 
sweet and luminous would her faith be in the midst 
of the contradictions, obscurities, and evils of the 
world. The home that enshrined such a woman 
would be a refuge for a man's tempted soul, as well 
as a resting-place for his tired body. 

A Day of Fate. 

February 18. 



* ' I did not know that there was a man in the 
world so noble, so generous, so honest." 

The human soul, however weak, is not like an 
exotic plant. It should be tended by a hand that 
is as gentle as it is firm and careful. 

Without a Home. 



52 



February 17. 



February 18. 

Charles Lamb. 1775. 

George Feabody. 1795. 



53 



February 19. 



A muddy pool, rippled by a breeze, will sparkle 
quite brilliantly while in motion ; but when quiet 
it is seen the more plainly to be only a shallow 
pool. 

The Lord from heaven breathed the breath of 

life into the first fair woman. 

A Face Ilhanined. 



February 20, 



Men may create philosophies, they may turn the 
Gospel itself into a cold abstraction, but the prac- 
tii:al truth remains that the Christ who saves, com- 
forts, and lifts the intolerable burden of sorrow or 
of sin, comes now as of old — comes as a living, 
loving, personal presence, human in sympathy, 

divine in power. 

Without a Home. 



54 



February 19. 
Copernicus. 1473. 



February 20. 
Voltaire. 1694. 



55 



February 21. 

1 would rather die a thousand deaths by torture 
than lose my faith that there is a God who will 
bring order out of this chaos of broken, thwarted 
lives, of which the world is full, and that those who 
seek a *' happier shore" will eventually find it. 

We are endowed with intelligence to choose 

carefully our paths and companions ; and I cannot 

help thinking that the majority might choose wisely 

enough to make life an agreeable journey in the 

main. 

A Face Illumined. 

February 22. 

Though Saville could not understand the source 
of Washington's strength, still the calm, noble face 
quieted him. Half unconsciously he was taught 
the difference between mere enthusiasm and per- 
sonal ambition, and a resolute purpose combined 
with unselfish devotion. He was generous and 
noble enough himself to appreciate the heroic 
qualities embodied before him, and to be won to 
something of the same spirit for the time being. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 

* ' She has never teiiipted me to aught save good 

deeds and brave work." 

A Day of Fate. 

56 



FeBPUARY 21. 



John Hcjiiy Newtnan. 1801 



February 22, 

WasJmigtoti. 1732. 

James Russell Loiuell. 18 19. 



57 



February 23. 



" I love such fresh young life, unshadowed by 
care or experience " 

" I believe you ; and your sympathy with such 
life will always keep you young at heart. I can't 
imagine you growing old ; indeed, truth is never 
old and feeble." 

" Now thee's sensible.'* 

** For once," I added. 

A Day of Fate. 



February 24. 



" He is singing songs of Heaven." 

A Face Illumined. 

Her moodiness was gone, but in its place was 
not her old levity. When Moses came down from 
the presence of God. his face shone so that he was 
compelled to veil its brightness ; and it has ever 
seemed true that nearness to God and his truth 
gives spiritual light and attractiveness to the plain- 
est features. 

From yest to Earnest. 



«;S 



February 23. 



February 24. 

Hajidel. 1684. 

George William Curtis. 1824. 



59 



February 25. 



But with increasing pain she thought, " He who 
says he is not a Christian, acts more hke one than 
he who claims the character." 

Is it strange that God saves men through other 
men, and that he carries on his work through our 
weak hands ? Even he himself best served man in 
human guise. It is because Christians pass by on 
the other side that many perish by the way. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



February 26. 



While he had the heart and courage of a man, 
he also had the quick, supple hand and gentle bear- 
ing of a woman. 

Barriers Burned Away. 

" Thee's honest, Richard." 

" If I wasn't I'd have no business in your soci- 
ety." 

A Day of Fate. 



60 



February 25. 



February 26. 
Victor Hugo. 1802. 



6t 



February 27. 

In the depths of my heart I respected a faith 
that was so simple, genuine, and full of sunshine. 

But for songs of nature and ballads I have never 
heard so sympathetic a voice. It suggests a pow- 
er of making music a sweet home language instead 
of a difficult high art, attainable by few. 

Deference, personal attention, and compliments 
— these are the irresistible weapons. 

Openitig a Chest ?tut Burr. 

February 28. 



The sun would often light up the face of the 
precipice, as a smile might illumine the rugged 
features of one who seemed harsh and cold in na- 
ture, but who, on closer acquaintance, would be 
found to possess traits that are kindly and gentle. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 



62 



FliBRUARV 27. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1807. 



February 28. 



r.-^ 



February 29. 

Already he seems to have won a place in that 

ancient and honorable order established so many 

centuries ago, the members of which were entitled 

to inscribe upon their shields the legend, " He that 

ruleth his own spirit is better than he that taketh a 

city." 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 

Still she may love and yet be able to see his 

foibles and failings clearly. 

A Day of Fate. 



64 



February 29. 
Kossint. 1792. 



65 



Ittarcf). 



March, so universally inveighed against, is to 
me one of the most fascinating months. Its dark- 
est days are full of hope, and the knowledge of the 
near approach of spring. We laugh at winter's 
gloomiest frowns, since the old tyrant cannot long 
maintain them, and must soon abdicate in favor of 
a gentler sovereign. Already spring, like a young 
queen consort, tempers his harshness, and soon she 
will occupv the throne alone. Increasingly often 
there are bright, warm, suggestive days, when the 
decrepit tyrant cannot appear, and she, unchecked, 
sways the sceptre, all sweetness, grace, and be- 
nignity. 

Play and Profit in My Garden. 



67 



March i. 

The flowers seemed an embodied strain from 

Chopin's nocturne that she had played, and the 

different shades of color the rising and falling of 

the melody. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 

Many a man has loved and waited in vain ; and 
some out of this long adversity that touched their 
dearest interests have built the grandest successes 
of life, and the loftiest and purest manhood. 

Without a Ho?ne. 



March 2. 

" Be true to your God and your faith ; be true to 
my poor teachings and your own pure, womanly 
nature. Let the Bible guide you in all things, and 
then you will always have peace in your heart, and 
find sympathy in nature without." 

Near to Nature's Heart. 

"You're the kind of man that would thaw an 

icicle. Your nature is large and gentle, and I 

don't mind letting vou know." 

A Day 0/ Fate. 



68 



March i. 
Chopin. 1809. 



March 2, 



69 



March 3. 



"Let her teach you the harmony of noble, un- 
selfish living-. Follow her in thought, feeling, and 
action, as those stammering, untuned tongues do 
in melody, and the blight of evil will pass from 

your life." 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

He had not much indulgence for any one's 
weaknesses save his own. 

Barriers Burned Azvay. 



March 4. 

God's greatest, dearest, most godlike prerogative 
is to forgive, and man's noblest act is to forgive a 
great wrong. 

' ' The thought of you alone has kept me from 

utter unbelief, and I would be glad to believe that 

there is some kindly power in existence that watches 

over such beings as you are, and that can reward 

your noble life ; but as far as I am concerned it's 

all a mystery and a weariness. Vou are near — you 

are merciful and kind." 

Without a Home. 



70 



March 3. 



March 4. 



7r 



March 5. 



He had acted naturally, and in accordance with 
his defective character ; he had been himself, and 
that was the secret of all his troubles. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 

Oh. the <^entle, inexorable woman! Satan him- 
self might well tremble before her. 

A Day of Fate. 



March 6. 



If a beautiful statue can ennoble and retine, a 
beautiful woman can accomplish infinitely more. 
She can be a constant inspiration, a suggestion of 
the perfect life beyond and an earnest of it. 

From Jest to Earnest. 

J'.Thee's a true gentleman." 

A Day of Fate. 



72 



March 5. 



March 6. 

Michael Angela Buonarofd. 1475. 

Sir Charles Napier. 1786. 



73 



March 7. 

There is a principle in our nature that leads us 
to enjoy conquering and subduing. The civilized 
state of our society prevents our doing this on the 
Coesar and Alexander plan, and that phase which 
modern belles often push to such extremes is 
scarcely a manly recreation. But the subduing of 
a wild stony piece of land still affords true scope 
for masculine energy, and surely there is a keen 
satisfaction in taking a i-ough field, a tangled, 
thorny thicket, a jumble of rocks and stumps, and 
by the dint of honest toil, like a hard-fought bat- 
tle, changing all into smooth', yielding fertility. 

Play and Pro/it. 

M.VRCH S. 



*' Your face is full of sudden gleams. Tell me 
what you are thinking about." 

Ail are beautiful to those they help. 

A man finally gets justice at the bar of his own 
conscience, but it is extorted gradually, reluctantly, 
and with much befogging of the case. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



March 7. 
E. P. Roe. 1838. 



March 8. 



75 



March q. 



A starved soul and heart seem to me infinitely 
worse than a starved body. 

Genuine beauty is a rare and wonderful gift, and, 
like genius, triumphs over adverse circumstances, 
and is often enhanced by them. 

Without a Home. 



March io. 

There is no isolation more perfect than that of a 
man of the world aniong people of his own kind, 
with whom manifestations of feeling are weak- 
nesses, securing prompt ridicule. Reticence, a 
shrewd alertness to the main chance of the hour, 
and the spirit of the entire proverb, " Every man 
for himself," become such fixed characteristics 
that I suppose there is danger that the deepest 
springs in one's nature may dry up, and no Arte- 
sian shaft of mercy or truth be able to find any- 
thing in a man's soul save arid selfishness. 

A Day of Fate. 

76 



March 9. 
Mirabeau. 1749. 
William Cobbett. 1^62. 



March 10. 



77 



March ii. 

When good influences are felt in a man's soul, 
evil seems to become specially active. The king- 
dom of darkness disputes every inch of its ill-got- 
ten power. Winter passes away in March storms. 
It is the still cold of indifference that is nearest 

akin to death. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

But like the clear surface fringed with shadows 
that sank far beneath the water, there were traces 
of many thoughts in her large blue eyes, 

A Day of Pate. 

MaRCJI 12. 

Angry with himself, out of humor with all the 

world, the latent obstinacy of his nature began to 

manifest itself. Though everything went "con- 

trairy," there was one thing under his control — 

himself — and he would make that do the bidding 

of his will. 

Barriers Bicrned Away. 

Under the magic of her good -will, both eyes and 
minds kindled, and even commonplace persons 
became almost brilliant and eloquent. 

A Face Illuviitied. 



78 



March ii. 



March 12. 
Bishop Berkeley. 1684. 



79 



March 13. 



Her nature was too simple and direct for dis- 
guises, and when slie attempted tliem they were 
often so apparent as to be comically pathetic. 

"Indeed, sir, I like your modesty, your self- 
depreciation." 

A Day of Fate. 



March 14. 



"She's a jolly good girl. T like her." 

A Day of Fate. 

lie came to believe that he had only to put his 

hand to a thing to give it the needful impulse to 

success. 

What Can She Do ? 



80 



Makch 13. 



Makcji 14. 



81 



March 15. 



When one wishes to reform, everything does 
not become lovely in this unfriendly world. The 
first steps are usually the most difificult, and the 
earliest experience the most disheartening. God 
never designed that reform should be easy. As it 
is, people are too ready to live the life which ren- 
ders reform necessary. The ranks of the victims 
of evil would be doubled did not a wholesome fear 
of the consequences restrain. 

Kftight oj the Nineteenth Century. 



March 16. 



When we receive our slight cuts and bruises 

through life, there is usually outcry and abundant 

sympathy. But when we receive our deep wounds 

that leave scars, often only God knows ; and it is 

best so, for He can heal, but the world can only 

probe. 

From yest to Earnest. 

" I never knew a truer, kinder lady.*' 

A Day of Fate. 



82 



March 15. 
Andreiv Jackson. 1767, 



March 16. 
James Madison. 175 1, 



83 



March 17. 

Tlie religion of mere negation, expulsion, and 

restraint is too often presented to the mind. 

Dykes and levees are very useful, and in some 

places essential ; but if low malarial shores could 

be lifted up into breezy hills and table-lands, this 

would be better. This is not only possible, but it 

is the true method in respect to the human soul ; 

and one should seek to grow better not by sedulous 

effort to keep out an evil world, but rather to fill 

up his heart with a good pure world such as Ciod 

made and blessed. 

^■1 Face Illumined, 

INlARCii 18. 

]le was brave ; he was manly in his appearance 
and bearing ; frank and affable in his manner ; 
and more than all. possessed tact, and the power 
of adapting himself to the moods and characters of 
his associates. He could be most fascinating when 
he chose to exert himself. 

No mountain stream could be more transparent 
than this child of nature, who had learned none of 
•art's disguises. When, from instinct, she mani- 
fested maidenly reserve, the cause was as apparent 

as the effect. 

Near to Natme's Heart. 

84 



March 17. 
T. Chalmers. 1 7 80. 



March 18. 
John C. Calhoun. 1782, 



85 



March 19. 



As the eye of artist and poet catches glimpses of 

beauty where to others are only hard lines and 

plain surfaces, so strong religious temperaments 

are quick to see providences, intimations, and 

leadings. 

From yest to Earnest. 

"Whatever your faith is, I believe in it, for I've 

seen its fruits." 

A Day of Fate. 



March 20. 

" Moreover. I am told that girls who dote on 
love in a cottage all marry rich men if the chance 
comes." 

'•Well, why shouldn't they, if the rich men are 
the right men ? 

You are too hurried, too eager for temporary 
success, too taken up with details, to form calm, 
philosophical opinions of the great events of your 
time, and thus be able to shape men's opinions. 

A Day of Fate. 



86 



March kj. 
Livingstone. 1815. 



March 20. 



87 



March 21. 



It is our duty to make every effort of which we 
ourselves are capable ; but this is only half our 
duty. Since our tasks are beyond our strength 
and ability, we are equally bound to receive such 
human aid as God sends us, and, chief of all, to 
ask daily, and sometimes hourly, that his strength 
be made perfect in our weakness. But there are 
some lessons which are only learned by experience. 
Knight of the Ninetee/ith Cetitnry. 



March 22. 

She won attention, not because she sought it, 
nor on the ground of eccentricities, but because of 
her own intense vitality. From her dark eyes a 
close observer might catch glimpses of a quick, 
active mind, an eager spirit, and, well — perhaps a 
passionate temper. Though chastened and sub- 
dued, she ever gave the impression of power to 
those who came to know her well. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

He is both natiu'ul and consistent. 

Barriers Bur7ied Awav, 



88 



March 21. 

Robert Bruce. 1374. 

Jean Paul Ric liter. 1763, 



March 22. 

Vandyck. 1599. 

Rosa Bonheur. 1S22. 



89 



March 23. 

She had been singularly strong and very weak ; 
but the weakness had left no stain on her crystal 
truth, and her strength had been of the best and 
most womanly kind. As in the twilight, so in the 
white moonlight, she again made perfect harmony 
in the transfigured garden. 



Two things that a man can't be a man without- 

hope and courage. 

A Day 0/ Fate. 



March 24. 



" T can't see what it is that people find so attrac- 
tive in that plain-looking girl." 

" Well, for one thing, she has a mind. Beauty 
without mind is like salad without dressing." 

A Face Illumined. 

" Why do you think him better than other peo- 
ple ?" 

" By what he does." 

Barriers Burtted Azvay. 



9D 



March 23. 



March 24. 



91 



March 25. 



I>ife blossomed and grew bright about her from 
some innate influence that she exerted uncon- 
sciously. 

Our need and our consciousness of it form our 

strongest claim upon Him and the best preparation 

for Him. 

Without a Home. 



Marcit 26. 

v\ father helps his children through their troubles, 
and so Ciod is tlesirous of helping us. There are 
some things which we cannot do alone — it is not 
meant that we should. God is ever willing to help 
those who are down. and. Christians are not worthy 
of the name unless they are also willing. 

Knight of the Nineteejith Ccfitury. 

" Conscious that I am not in the least heroic, I 
do not wish to be imagined a hero," 

A Dav of Fate, 



92 



Marcji 25. 



March 26. 



93 



March 27. 



Her hand was not one that a sculptor would care 
to copy, though he would find no great fault with 
it. It reminded one of silk drawn over steel, and 
all electric and throbbing with life. You felt that 
it could give you the true grasp of friendship — that 
it had power to do more than barely cling to some- 
thing, but could both help and sustain, and yet its 
touch would be gentleness itself around the couch 

of suffering. 

Opening a Chest nut Burr. 



March 28. 



One may live in a palace, and yet not be a slave 

to the palace. Our home should be as beautiful 

as our taste and means can make it ; but, like the 

nest yonder, it should simply serve its purpose. 

leaving us the time and means to get all the good 

out of the world that we can, 

A Day of Fate. 



94 



March 27. 



March 28. 



95 



March 29. 



She seemed a radiant, living portrait. 

Baniers Btiriied Away. • 

Men and women in good society may be very 
polished and refined, and yet their souls in God's 
sight and their own be shameful, "naked." wear- 
ing no robe of righteousness, bound by no laws of 
purity and right, and " always, night and day, cry- 
ing and cutting" themselves in the unrest of re- 
morse. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



March 30. 



Her influence was like that of a warm day in 
spring, undemonstrative, not self - asserting, but 
most powerful. 

' ■ Please do not expect much from me. I fear I 

shall disappoint you." 

Without a Home. 



c,6 



March 29. 



March 30. 



97 



March 31. 

What language can portray your feelings when 
you are awakened some mild morning in March by 
the wild minstrelsy of a party of robins and blue- 
birds that, coming from you know not where, have 
taken possession of your garden. The long op- 
pressive silence of winter is broken, and now we 
shall have trills, solos* duetts, and choruses that 
can only be imitated in the Academy of Music. 

Play and Profit. 

" It's a little strange, but I doubt whether there 

is anything in the universe that so inspires a man 

with awe as a thoroughly good, large-minded 

woman." 

A Day of Fate. 



98 



March 31. 
Haydn. 1732. 



99 



april. 



This season, so uncertain and variable, now 
smiling and gentle, now harsh and forbidding, re- 
minds one of coy, cold Beauty about to yield to 
Love's suit in spite of herself. She tries, but can- 
not maintain her frowns, for love softens her heart 
like the subtle south wind relaxing the frozen 
earth. Though her moods are abrupt and trying 
in their changes, they are followed by remorseful 
tears, just as rain one day seeks to banish the frost 
and snow of the preceding. Her temper is often 
high and uncertain, her words a little sharp and 
blustering, like March winds ; but wait patiently 
till all has blown over, and see how softly and 
sweetly she will smile on you. But don't presume ; 
don't felicitate yourself too highly ; there will prob- 
ably be a change. Patient wooing and waiting 
shall be rewarded by the tearful penitence and 
sunny smiles of April, and warmer affection of 

May and June. 

Play and Profit in My Gaideti. 



lOI 



April i. 



The spring-time had come again, and the beauty 
and promise of her own future seemed reflected in 
nature. 

Where in history do we read — who from a ripe 
experience can give — an instance of a happy Ufe 
developing under the deepening shadow of evil. 
Knight of the Nhieteenth Century. 



April 2. 



It became his favorite dream that he might be 
one of the founders of a fepublic in the new world, 
in which liberty and equality should be the corner- 
stones, human reason the sole architect, and nature 

the inspiration. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 

* ' For so tender-hearted a girl thee is very 

strong." 

A Day of Fate. 



102 



April i. 
Bismarck. 1815. 



April 2, 
H, C. Andersen. 1805. 



103 



April 3. 



He was an example of the truth that good comes 

from without and not within us. It is heaven 

stooping to men ; heaven's messengers sent to us ; 

truth quic^^ened in our minds by heavenly influence, 

even as sunlight and rain awaken into beautiful 

life the seeds hidden in the soil : and above all, 

impulses direct from God, that steal into our hearts 

as the south wind penetrates ice-bound gardens in 

spring. 

opening a Chestnut Burr. 



April 4. 



To me, the desperate earnestness of people who 
imagine it their mission to set the world right is 
excessively tiresome. 

"You have a comfortable habit of putting all 
perplexing questions into the Lord's hand and 
borrowing no further trouble. Perhaps that is the 
wisest way after all, only one is a long time learn- 
ing it." 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



104 





April 3. 




Gear 

yashi 

E. 


•ge Herbert, 
ngtoji Irving. 
E. Hale. 1 


1593. 

■ '783 
822. 



x\rRiL 4. 



105 



April 5. 
He best deserves a knightly crest 
Who slays the evils that infest 
His soul within. If victor here, 
He soon v^ill find a wider sphere. 
The world is cold to him who pleads ; 
The world bows low to knightly deeds. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Cetttury. 

She was like a child that had dwelt in a tropical 

oasis, the flowers and fruits of which had seemed 

as limitless as its extent. She had supposed that 

the whole world would be like this oasis, and the 

only necessity ever imposed on her would be that of 

choice from its rich profusion. 

A Face Illumined. 

April 6. 

"He is the greatest artist that ever lived, and 
there never were such pictures as he paints." 

A Face Illumined. 

She fought and won a battle which, if never 
known on earth, would never be forgotten in 
heaven. 

For the victors in such battles, the brightest 
crowns of glory are reserved. 

She mastered self and selfishness, in the very 

citadel of their strength. 

From jtest to Earnest. 



106 



April 5. 
General H. Havelock. 1795. 



Appxl 6. 



f07 



April 7. 

' ' How many hungry people have you fed ? How 
many strangers (I do not mean distinguished ones 
from abroad) have you taken in and comforted ? 
How many of the naked have you clothed ? And 
how long is your list of the sick and imprisoned 
that you have visited, my luxurious little lady?" 

Baniei's Burned Away. 

Whatever might be said against his philosophy, 

it produced good cheer and peace. 

A Day 0/ Fate. 



April 8. 



She was quick, original, and did her own think- 
ing — in repartee she hit back unexpectedly, in 
flashes, like as the lightning leaps out of the clouds. 

' ' Children can do by nature what we should do 
from intelligent choice — turn away the mind from 
painful subjects to those that are pleasing. You 
don't catch me brooding over trouble when there 
are a thousand pleasant things to think of." 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



108 



April 7. 

Willi a m Wordsworth . 1770. 

W. E. Charming. 1780. 



April S. 



109 



April 9. 



The wholesome and tonic influence of a few 
hours of positive and unalloyed enjo3^ment in a 
busy or burdened life is properly estimated by a 
very few. Multitudes would preach better, live 
better, do more work and die much later, could 
they find some innocent recreation to which they 
could often give themselves up with something of 
the whole-hearted abandon of a child. 

Without a Home. 



April 10. 



' ' For your mother's influence and that of nature 

have made you the sweetest, purest woman that 

ever breathed." 

Ne»r to Nature's Heart. 

"You pride yourself that you are not narrow, 

unconscious of the truth that you are spreading 

yourself thinly over the mere surface of affairs. 

You have little comprehension of the deeper forces 

and motives of humanity." 

A Day of Fate. 



no 



April 9. 



April 10. ^ 



Tir 



April ii. 



" She will be unchangeable amid all changes." 

" He is a Christian gentleman, in the truest and 
strongest sense of the word." 

Near to Nature's Heart. 





April 12. 



Only God can give to the whole of his creation 
the all-seeing gaze that we bestow upon some 
familiar scene. His glance around the globe is 
that of a mother around her nursery, with her little 
children grouped at her feet. 

Opening a CJiestnut Burr. 

As for himself, he had no peculiarities. He was 

a practical, sensible man, with no nonsense about 

him. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 



112 



April ii. 
Ediuard Everelt. 1794. 



April 12. 
Henry Clay. \1']1' 



"3 



April 13. 



Few can be more miserable than those who hold 
their fortunes and good name on sufferance — safe 
only in the power and disposition of others to keep 
some wretched secret. 

Ktiight of the Nineteenth Century. 

"People will be the better for being with you." 

A Day of Fate. 



April 14. 



There are thousands of very pretty girls who 
have no love for beauty save their own, which they 
do their best to spoil by self-homage. 

The causes which start men upon their careers 
are often seemingly the most slight and casual. 

Without a Home. 



114 



April 13. 



April 14. 



"5 



April 15. 



As humanity goes back to its first occupation it 

may also acquire some of the primal gardener's 

characteristics before he listened to temptation and 

ceased to be even a gentleman. When he brutally 

blamed the woman, it was time he was turned out 

of Eden. 

Success with Small Fruits. 



April 16. 



" Yonder is a man who is not afraid of work." 

On her was imposed already the most painful 
experience of war — woman's helpless waiting and 
watching for those they love. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 



116 



April 15. 



Aprh. 16. 
Sir /. Franklin. 1786 



"7 



April 17. 



But you are as true as steel. 

Her evident sympathy put every one at ease, 
and gave people the power of such happy expres- 
sion that they were surprised at themselves, and 
led to believe that they not only received but gave 
something better than the average. 

A Face Illumined. 



April 18. 



He often wondered at her ability to enchain his 
thoughts, to awaken questionings in regard to mat- 
ters which he had considered settled, and uncon- 
sciously to arouse misgivings concerning his doubt 

and unbelief. 

Near to Nature^s Heart. 

Almost as many are ruined by undue and unwise 
repression as by equally unwise and idiotic in- 
dulgence. 

Without a Home. 



118 



April 17. 



April 18. 
G. H. Lewes. 181 7. 



riQ 



ArRiL ig. 



A merely pretty face is like a line of verse of 
musical rhythm, but without sense or meaning. 

A Face I Humified. 

The light which can banish the oppressive, dis- 
heartening shadow of guilt must come from beyond 

the sun. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 



April 20. 

It is often not so much what a man does as the 
state of the heart that prompts the act. In com- 
mon parlance, Walter was as good-hearted a fellow 
as ever breathed. Indeed he was quite inclined to 

noble enthusiasms. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

But the first dawning of a woman's love is more 
like the aurora with its strange fitful flashes. The 
phenomena have never been satisfactorily ex- 
plained. 

Barriers Burned Aivav. 



120 



April 19. 



April 20. 



121 



April 21. 



If penitent tears could be crystallized they would 
be the only gems of earth that angels would covet, 
and perhaps God's co-workers here will find those 
that they caused to flow on earth set as gems in 
their "crown of glory that fadeth not away." 

She was one who lived in her affections rather 
than surroundings. The latter would matter little 
to her could she keep her heart-treasures. 

Opefimg a Chestnut Burr. 

* 

April 22. 



She was not an advanced female, with a mission ; 
she was simply a young and lovely woman, capable 
of the noblest action and feeling should the occa- 
sion demand them, but naturally luxurious and 
beauty-loving in her tastes, and inclined to shun 
the prosaic side of life. 

Knight o/the Nineteenth Ceiittiry. 

"Your appearance did not comport with your 

deeds." 

A Day 0/ Fate. 



12: 



April 21. 

Bishop Heber. 178.3. 

Charlotte Bronte. 1816. 



April 22. 
Madame de StaeL 1766. 



123 



April 23. 

Moreover she had the two grand books of the 
world, the Bible and Shakespeare ; and often as 
she watched in the corner of the wide fireplace, she 
half read and half brooded over their glowing 
pages, until her own mind was full of thronging 
thoughts and fancies, which, in their beauty and 
character, were at least akin to those she read. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 

" O Will Shakespeare !" I at last murmured, 
" you knew the human heart, if any one ever did." 

A Day of Fate. 

April 24, 



One may delve in the earth so long as to lose all 

dread at the thought of sleeping in it at last, and 

the luscious fruits and bright-hued flowers that come 

out of it, in a way no one can find out, may teach 

our own resurrection more effectually than do the 

learned theologians. 

Success with Small Fruits. 



124 



April 23. 
William S/iakspcare. 1564. 



April 24. 



125 



April 25. 



He had an abundance of intellect, great shrewd- 
ness, vast will force and organizing power, but 
not much ideality or imagination. 

The light and gladness of that blessed future 
seemed to have come into her sweet womanly face. 

A Day 0/ Fate. 



April 26. 

We can no more scold people into loving us than 

Nature could make buds blossom by daily nipping 

them with frost. 

What Can She Do ? 

The April sun shone brightly and genially into 
the apartment. In all its appointments it appeared 
as fresh, inviting, and cleanly as the wholesome 
light without. The spirit of the housekeeper per- 
vaded every part of the mansion, and in both fur- 
niture and decoration it would seem that she had 
studiously excluded everything which would sug- 
gest morbid or gloomy thoughts. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century, 
126 



April 25. 
Oliver Cromwell. 1599. 



April 26. 



127 



ArRiL 27. 



Flesh and spirit, however, are not wood and 
stone, and she might learn in deep surprise that 
her light cesthetic touches, while producing pleas- 
ing changes in externals, had also awakened some 
of the profoundest motives and forces that give 

shape and color to life. 

Without a Home. 

" Thee's a strong-minded, sensible man." 

A Day of Fate. 



April 28. 



She was by nature an advocate rather than a 
judge. Not the spirit of the disciples, that would 
call down fire from heaven, but the spirit .of the 
Master, who sought to lay his healing, rescuing 
hand on every lost creature, always controlled her 
eventually. Human desert did not count as much 
with her as human need, and her own sorrows had 
made her heart tender toward the sufferings of 
others, even though well merited. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 



12S 



April 27. 



April 28. 



129 



April 29. 

But then people will judge the world by their 
own experience of it, and some natures are more 
easily warped by evil and wrong than others. No 
logic can cope with feeling and prejudice. 

A young man is far on the road to evil when he 
loses faith in woman. During the formative period 
of character, of earthly influences, she is the most 
potent in making or marring him. 

Opening a Chest7itit Btcrr. 



April 30. 

People's instincts are quick in discerning the 
hidden springs of action ; and her influence was 
all the more effective because she gave them the 
fruits of faith rather than stems of exhortation 
on which they were required to develop fruit of 
their own. Much good fruit was eventually pro- 
duced, but more through her example, her spring- 
like influence, than from any formal instruction. 

Without a Home. 

Reason and judgment act slowly, but imagina- 
tion takes fire. 

What Can She Do ? 
130 



Al'RlL 29. 



April 30, 



I"iT 



iHag. 



" Look at us," said the violets, blooming at her 
feet. "All last winter we slept in seeming death, 
as your mother is sleeping now ; but at the right 
time God awakened us, and here we are to comfort 
you." 

" Look at me," said the bubbling spring. " The 
black ice shut me in, as the black earth will cover 
your mother, but it did not hurt me ; and, spark- 
ling again this morning as brightl} as ever, I am 
here to comfort you." 

" Listen to us," said the birds over her head 
*' We did not sing here last wmter, but we were 
singing where the cold winds never blow. So your 
mother has only flown away to a sunnier clime, and 
we are here to comfort you." 

'"Look at me," cried the sun, rising in uncloud- 
ed splendor over the eastern hills. *' Do T not 
come back to you after the darkness of the night ? 
So will He, whose light I reflect, shine away your 
sorrow, and he has sent me to comfort you." 

Near to Nature's Heart, 



133 



May I. 



God hfears prayer when his children cry to him — 
when his faithful friends speak to him straight and 
true from their hearts ; and such know well that 
they are answered. 

It was a voice that stole into the heart and kept 
vibrating there long hours after, like an leolian 
harp just breathed upon by a dying zephyr. 

Opening a C/icstnnt Burr. 



May 2. 

But she was gifted in a peculiar degree with tact, 
a quick perception and power of interpreting the 
language of nature and the heart. She read and 
estimated character rapidly. Almost intuitively 
she saw people's needs and weaknesses, but so far 
from making them the ground of satire and con- 
tempt, they awakened her pity and desire to help. 
In other words, she was one of those Christians 
who in some degree catch the very essence of 
Christ's character, who lived and died to save. 

Opening a CJiestnut Burr. 

"How noble and expressive of varied feeling 

his face is." 

Barrier!; Burned Aivay. 

134 



May I. 



May 2. 



135 



May -x. 



" I heard your laugh this morning while you 
were at breakfast, and it filled all the old house 
with music. It seemed to become a part of the 
sunshine that was shimmering on the elm-leaves 
that swayed to and fro before my window, and 
then the robins took it up in the garden." 

A Day of Fate. 

Everything he does seems marked by unusual 
good taste and intelligence. 

Barriers Bur tied Away, 



May 4. 



He had proved such a true and helpful friend. 
Near to Nature's Heart. 

With such companionship, . . . .life would 
never lose its ideality, nor the world become a 
mere combination of things. Her woman's fancy 
would embroider my man's reason and make it 
beautiful, while not taking from its strength. 

A Day 0/ Fate. 



1*36 



May 3. 



May 4. 
W. H. Prescott. 1796. 



137 



May 5. 

Her teachers were not such as the fashionable 
would choose or desire — sickness and sorrow at 
home, and the solitude of wintry mountains with- 
out ; and yet these stern-visaged instructors made 
their pupil more sweet, imselfish, and womanly 
every day. They endowed her with patience, and, 
at the same time, inspired her with hope. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 

" You are my true and trusted friend." 

What Can She Do ? 



May 6. 



One weakness, one wrong prepares the way for 
another as surely as when one soldier of Diabolus 
gets within the city he will open the gates- to others. 

It is the curse of conscious deceit to breed sus- 
picion. Only the true can have absolute faith in 

the truth of others. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



rsS 



May 



May &. 



139 



May 7. 



He was taught by them the magnetic power of 
sympathy, 'and that he who in the depths of his 
heart feels for his fellow-creatures, can help them. 
Knight of the Nitieteetith Century. 

" Do you know that there is not a lady present 
that for a moment can compare with you ?" 

What Can She Do ? 



May S. 



Where a precious stone will take a lustre a pum- 
ice-stone will crumble. 

What Can She Do ? 

"There is nothing certain, assured. There is 
no test by which I can at once know the truth." 

■ ' That does not prevent the truth from existing. 

Because some are blind is no proof that color does 

not exist." 

Barriers Burned Awav. 



140 



May 7. 



May S, 



141 



May 9. 

A flashing gem may seem real at first, but as its 
meretricious rays are analyzed, they lose their 
charm because revealing a stone not only worthless 
but worse than worthless, since it mocks us with a 
false resemblance, thus raising hopes only to dis- 
appoint them. 

A Pace Illumined. 

"Only the noble in deed and in truth can reach 

high and noble art." 

Barriers Bunted Awav. 



May 10. 

" A lady's dress is like the binding of a book — 
.it ought to be suggestive of her character. In- 
deed she can make it a tasteful expression of her- 
self. Neither you nor I believe in the people who 
value books for the sake of their covers only. A 
book must hav^e a soul and life of its own as truly 
as you or I ; and the costliest materials, the wealth 
of a kingdom, cannot make a true book any more 
than a perfect costume and the most exquisite 
combination of flesh and blood can make a true 

woman." 

A Day of Fate. 



14c 



May 



May 



T04 



r4; 



May II. 



It is the fashion to inveigh against the "cold 
and pitiless world ;" but the world has often much 
excuse for maintaining this character. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 

" I predict for you a happy life, and, what is 

more, you will make others happy." 

A Day of Fate. 



May 12. 



Sorrow and watching had brought unusual pallor 

to her cheeks ; but her eyes were so large, so dark 

and intense, that they suggested spirit rather than 

flesh and blood. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 

'' I've been led to believe that you cherish a high 

and scrupulous sense of honor, and that trait counts 

with me far more than all others." 

A Day of Fate. 



144 



May II. 



May 12, 



US 



May 13. 



Feeling is sometimes so intense that it is like the 
lightning, and burns its way instantly to the con- 
sciousness of others. 

In addition, she had manifested the most beauti- 
ful and Godlike trait that can ennoble human 
character — the desire to save and sweeten other 

lives. 

Opening a Chestnut Bicrr. 



May 14. 

" I did not know that faith and sorrow could 
make a-human face so beautiful." 

Near to Nature's Heart. 

" Does thee realize the sin and folly of over- 
work ? If thee works for thyself, it is folly. If 
thee toils for the good of the world, and art able to 
do the world any good, it is sin ; if there are loved 
ones dependent on thee, thee may do them a wrong 
for which there is no remedy. Thee looks to me 
like a man who has been overdoing." 

A Day of Fate. 



T46 



May 13, 



May 14 



M? 



May 15. 

"There," he said, "is the miracle — a gifted, 

magnetic, unselfish woman devoting herself wholly 

to the enjoyment of others. She has created more 

sunshine this dismal day than we have had in the 

house since I've been here. Is not that face there 

a revelation ?" 

A Face Ilhwiined. 

Are we ever guided by reason, will, deliberate 
choice ? Are there not often strong half - recog- 
nized instincts that sway us more profoundly, even 
as the plant unconsciously turns its leaves and 
blossoms toward the sun, and sends its roota 
groping unerringly to the moisture ? 

From Jest to Earnest. 
May 16. 



It would seem that mutual kindness is a common 
ground on which all the world can meet and add 
somewhat to each other's welfare. 

Knight of the Nmeteenth Century. 

To wait and trust is often the latest lesson we 

learn in life. 

Barriers Burned Away. 



14S 



May 15, 



May 16. 



149 



May 17. 

In her ready tongue she carried a keener weapon 
than the swords that dangled and clattered at the 
sides of the incipient warriors on whom she waited ; 
and when provoked she gave thrusts which brought 
the hot blood at least to their faces. But while she 
inspired a wholesome respect, she was generally 
bubbling over with good humor and arch repartee, 
and so was a general favorite. 

Near to Natttre's Heart. 

" You don't know the world very well yet, my 

little man." 

Barriers Btirned Away. 

May 18. 
The repressed and unhappy are in tenfold more 
danger from temptation than those who feel they 
are having their share of life's good. The stream 
that cannot flow in the sunshine seeks a subter- 
ranean channel ; in like manner, when circum- 
stances or the inconsiderate will of others impose 
unrelenting restraint upon the exuberant spirit of 
youth, it usually finds some hidden outlet which 

cannot bear the light. 

WitJiout a Home. 

" Nature is full of hope, and the promise of 
coming life. So ought I to be in this my spring- 
time." 

Barriers Burned Away. 

150 



May 17. 



May i8. 



151 



May ig. 



There are times when the mind is almost evenly 
balanced between good and evil. Some powerful 
appeal or startling providence has aroused the 
sleeping spirit, or some vivifying truth has pierced 
the armor of indifference or prejudice, and quivered 
like an arrow in the soul, and the man remembers 
that he is a man and not a brute that perishes. 

" If I would be like my Master, I must help 

him." 

Openhig a Chestnut Burr. 



May 20. 

" I am driven to one of two alternatives : either 
you regard your God as so kind and good, so merci- 
ful, that you can trespass on his forbearance to any 
extent, and treat him with a neglect and indiffer- 
ence that none would manifest toward the pettiest 
earthly potentate, and still all be well ; or else you 
have no real practical belief in your religion." 

Barriers Burned Away. 

Therefore she was a sudden beautiful revelation 
to him, as vivid as unexpected. 

What Can She Do ? 



]=;2 



May 19. 



May 20. 

Balzac. 1799. 

Johi Stuart Mill. 1806. 



153 



May 21. 



Christ proved centuries ago that the sympathetic 
touch is heahng. 

He was almost predestined to succeed, for his 
unusually strong will would not drive him into use- 
less effort or against obstacles that could be fore- 
seen and avoided. 

Withotit a Ho7ne. 



May 22. 

And she did sing with a tenderness and feeling 
that Walter had never known before. In render- 
ing something that required simplicity, nature, and 
pathos no prima donna could surpass her, for 
though her voice was not powerful and had no un- 
usual compass, it was as sweet as that of a thrush 
in May. 

" The world would move but slowly if all men 
were content with ' good dinners and a quiet life.' ' 
Opetiing a Chest )iut Burr. 



154 



May 21. 
Elizabeth Fry. i'j^q. 



May 22. 
Alex. Pope. 1688. 



155 



May 23. 



He was naturally generous and sympathetic, and 
his heart overflowed with pity and tenderness. 

" She is not a child ; she is capable of becoming, 
if she is not already, a heroic woman." 

Near to Nature's Heart. 



May 24. 



But there is that about every truly refined woman 
with a large loving heart which is irresistible. The 
two things combined give a winning grace that is 
an "open sesame" ever)^where. The trouble is 
that culture and polish are too often the sheen of 
an icicle. 

Unless the causes are removed, the bad moods ' 
of one day are apt to follow us into the next. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



156 



May 23. 
Thomas Hood. 1799. 



May 24. 
Queen Victoria. 1819. 



157 



May 25. 



Like the ancient Hebrew leader who climbed 
Sinai's height to the presence of God, he also had 
been prepared above the clouds to lead the people 
who tarried on the plain below. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 

"Who can hide anything from such women? 
They look through us as if we were glass." 

A Day of Fate. 



May 26. 



No nature that is human is self-sufficient in 
every emergency of life ; for even the pure and 
perfect human nature of our. Lord, though allied 
with Divinity, pleaded with the drowsy disciples, 
" Watch with me." This request was not a mere 
form, nor a test of their loyalty, but the inevitable 
appeal for support which ever comes from suffer- 
ing. The larger and more perfect the nature, the 
more deeply is this want felt. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 



158 



May 25. 
J^. W, Ej?ierson. 180- 



May 26. 



159 



May 27. 

Her charity was wide enough for all. Wher- 
ever she could discover gloom, despondency, dul- 
ness, or pain, there she tried to shine like a sun- 
beam, as if that were the primal law of her being. 
She rarely sought to "do good" in the ordinary 
acceptance of the term ; still more rarely did she 
speak of her own personal faith ; to cheer and to 
brighten appeared to be her one constant impulse. 

"You seem to have the ability, not only to take 
care of yourself, but of others." 

A Face Illumined. 

May 28. 



This is sorry progress. A man must indeed 
have lived radically wrong when he looks backward 
for the best of his life. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

She was keenly alive to beauty, and she saw it 

on every side. 

Barriers Burned Away. 



160 



-May 27, 
Bafite. 1265. 



May 28. 

Thomas Moore. 1780. 

L. Af^assiz. 1807. 



rfii 



May 29. 



"You are going to make a genuine man." 

' ' You seem to go from the kitchen by easy and 

natural transition to regions beyond the stars, and 

to pass without hesitancy from the companionship 

of us poor mortals into a Presence that is to me 

supremely awful." 

A Day 0/ Fate. 



May 30. 

"I will trust you, for your words and manner 
are those of truth and purity." 

Near to Nature's Heart. 

A woman's love is like the grace of heaven — a 
royal gift ; and the spirit of the suitor is more re- 
garded than his desert. Moreover, I do not pro- 
pose to soil her life with the evil world that I must 
daily brush against, but through her influence to 
do a little toward purifying that world. Since this 
is but a dream, I shall dream it out to suit me. 

A Day of Fate. 



162 



May 29. 
Patrick Henry. 1 >^T^(i. 



May 30. 
Peter the Great. i6j2. 



163 



May 31. 

The greater number of forceful American citi- 
zens are recruited from the ranks of just such 
young men — strong, comparatively poor, some- 
what rude in mind and person at the start, but of 
such good material that they are capable of a fine 

finish. 

Without a Home. 



164 



Mav 3i. 



165 




\illliliillil,l fi 'iikmMllMii nil niAmuh, Ilk 



\!S!SSt\^'^\'^^i'H di 



Look at that magnificent glow in the west. So 
assuredly ended in brightness the lives of those we 
loved, however clouded their day may have been at 
times. This June evening, so full of glad sounds, 
is not the time for sad thoughts. Listen to the 
robins, to that saucy oriole yonder on the swaying 
elm-branch. BcN'ond all. hear that thrush. Can 
you imagine a more delicious refinement of sound ? 
Let us give way to sadness when we must, and es- 
cape from it when we can. 

A Day of Fate. 



167 



June i. 



And yet she did assert herself ; but he was com- 
pelled to admit that it was as a summer breeze 
might, or the perfume of a rose. 

" 'Duty ' seems to me a good solid road on which 

one may travel safely. One never knows where 

the side paths lead ; into the brambles or a morass 

like enough." 

Openittg a Chestnut Burr. 



June 2, 

Tn her sweet tones there was not the faintest 
suggestion of the effect or style that a professional 
singer would aim at. She thought no more of 
these than would a brown thrush swaying on its 
spray in the twilight of a June evening. As un- 
affectedly as the bird she sang according to the in- 
ward promptings of a nature purified and made 
lovely by the grace of God. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

"I'm the champion blunderer of the world." 

A Day 0/ Fate. 



168 



June i. 



June 2. 



169 



June 3. 



In brief, to my kindled fancy, her youth and 
loveliness appeared the exquisite human embodi- 
ment of the June morning, with its alternations of 
sunshine and shadow, its roses and their fragrance, 
of its abounding yet untarnished and beautiful life. 

A Day of Fate. 

" How delightfully frank he is." 

What Can She Do ? 



June 4. 

There was, in truth, great need that her mind 
should be awakened and her whole nature radically 
changed, if it were a possible thing — a need shown 
by the fact the fair June morning, with its fragrance 
and beauty, could not light up her face with its 
own freshness and gladness. The various notes 
of the birds were only sounds ; the landscape, seen 
for the first time, was like the map of Switzerland, 
that, in the days of her geography lessons, gave 
her as vivid an idea of the country as a dry sermon 
does of heaven. Although her ears and eyes were 
so pretty, she was, in the deepest and truest sense 
of the word, deaf and dumb. 

A Face Illumined. 

' ' You know very well that I am not a society 
man." 

Ffom yest to Earnest. 

176 



June 3. 



June 4. 



171 



June 5. 

But the Divine love is ever seeking to win our 

attention by messengers innumerable : now by the 

appalling storm, again by a summer sunset ; now 

by an awful providence, again by a great joy ; at 

times by stern prophets and teachers, but more 

often by the gentle human agencies of which Annie 

was the type. 

Opeumg a Cliestmit Burr. 

" I will compel the world to give me a place at 
least entitled to respect." 



What Can She Do f 



June 6. 



Fragrant June roses were opening on every side, 
and it appeared to me that all the sin of man could 
not make the world offensive to heaven that morn- 
ing. 

Her laugh rang out like a chime of silver bells. 

A Day of Fate. 



172 



JUNE 5. 

Socrates. .^68 B.C. 
■Schumann. 1810. 



June 6. 
P. Cortieille. 1606 



1/3 



June 7. 



All the best things of the garden suggest refine- 
ment and courtesy. Nature might have contented 
herself with producing seeds only, but she accom- 
panies the prosaic action with fragrant flowers and 
delicious fruit. It would be well to remember this 
in the ordinary courtesies of life. 

Success with Small Fruits. 

1 will dub you truest knight that ever served de- 
fenceless woman. 

Barriers Burned Away. 



June 8. 



" It's little the world cares for any one, and the 
absurdest of all blunders is to live for its favor." 
Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 

Now she appears like a June morning, and I 

pray the weather holds. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 



174 



June 7. 



June 80 



175 



June 9. 



In accordance with one of his characteristics, the 
more difficult the project seemed, the rhore obsti- 
nately fixed became his purpose. 

A Face Illummed. 

" But I am inclined to think that you have be- 
come womanly during this long year, rather than 

angelic." 

Near to Nature'' s Heart. 



June 10. 
But he did not understand her influence. A man 
seldom does when he first meets the woman whose 
words, glances, and presence have the subtle power 
to fill his thoughts, quicken his pulse, stir his soul, 
and awaken his whole nature into new life. He 
usually passes through a luminous haze of congeni- 
ality, friendship, Platonic affinity, or even brotherly 
regard, till something suddenly clears up the mist. 
and he finds, like the first man, lonely in Eden, 
that there is but one woman for him in all the 

world. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

" I propose to do my duty." 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 
176 



June 9. 
George Stephenson. I'jSi 



June 10. 



177 



June ii. 



Men of mind rarely are captivated by a face 
merely, however beautiful, but what it represents, 
or what they imagine it does. Woe be to the 
beauty who has no better capital than her face. 

" Now, if I were a man, I'd certainly be a doc- 
tor." 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



June 12. 



Beyond even the word of sympathy is the touch 
of sympathy, and it often conveys to the fainting 
heart a subtle power to hope and trust again which 
the materialist cannot explain. 

Knight 0/ the Nineteenth Century. 

In times of perplexity it is our part to do what 
seems right, asking God for guidance, and then 
leave the consequences to him. 

Knight 0/ the Nineteenth Century. 



178 



Junk ii. 
Ben Jonson. 1574. 



June 12. 

Harriet Martineau. 1802. 

Cation Kingsley. 1819. 



^9 



June 13. 



" For a time you may be able to serve me best 
by serving others." 

There was, withal, a trace of quaint Shakes- 
pearian stateliness in her words and manner, which, 
to one of his tastes, was far more pleasing than the 
artificial graces of the prevailing mode. 

N^ear to Nature's Heart. 



June 14. 



" Are you an advocate of woman's rights ?" 

" Not of woman's, particularly. I would be glad 

if every one had their rights." 

A Face Illumined. 

'* But serve you I must." 

What Can She Do ? 



180 



June 13. 
7^/1 mas Aniold. 1795. 



June 14. 
Harriet Beecher Stowe. 1812. 



181 



June 15. 

"' Women are different from men ; they know 
almost immediately whether they like a person or 
not. I liked thee in half a day." 

"I'm impressed with the truth that peace is the 
chief need of the world — the chief need of every 
human heart. Beyond success, beyond prosperity, 
beyond happiness, is the need of peace — the deep, 
assured rest of the soul that is akin to the eternal 
calmness of Him who spake these words." 

A Day 0/ Fate. 

June 16. 

Beauty that was so unconventional and so utterly 
self-forgetful. The blooming clover, before it fell 
at a sweep of the scythe, was the fit emblem of her 
then, she looked so young, so fair, and sweet. 

A Day 0/ Fate. 

The motive that led Hemstead toward the min- 
istry was that he might employ all his energies in 
fostering every germ of good, and in sowing the 
seed of truth where otherwise there would be hope- 
less barrenness. 

From yest to Earnest. 



182 



June 15. 



June 16. 



183 



June 17. 

Not with any chivalric, uncalculating impulse 
did he reach a conclusion, but by the slow, deliber- 
ate reasoning of a cool-headed, sturdy race that 
would hold to a course with life-long tenacity, hav- 
ing once chosen it. 

Without a Home. 

" Oh, she's kind and sympathetic toward every 
poor mortal." 

" Very true ; but she's intensely womanly ; and 
a woman is incapable of a benevolence and sympa- 
thy that are measured out by the yard — so much to 
each one, according to the dictates of judgment." 

A Day of Fate. 

June 18. 



Christ washed the feet of fishermen in order to 

give us an example of humility, and to teach us 

that we should be willing to serve any one in his 

name. 

Knight of the Nineteeitth Century. 

She realized more and more vividly that he was 
sustained and animated by some mighty principle. 

Barriers Burned Away. 



184 



June 17. 
John Wesley. 1703, 



Junk iS. 



T85 



June 19. 



This June air, laden with the odors of these 
sweet old-style roses and grape-blossoms, intoxi- 
cates me. These mountains lift me up. These 
birds set my nerves tingling like one of Beethoven's 
symphonies, played by Thomas' orchestra. In 
neither case do I know what the music means, but 

I recognize a divine harmony. 

A Day of Fate. 



June 20. 



" You are more than many princesses have been 
— a lady." 

May gales from heaven spring up and carry thee 
homeward. Fear not even rough winds, if they 
bear thee toward the only true home. 

A Day of Fate. 



186 



June 19. 



June 20, 



187 



June 21. 



' ' Do you know the lady well ?" 
" Yes, I fear I do." 

Except as we master and hold our own in the 

world, it informs us that we are of little account — 

one of millions ; and our burdens and sorrows are 

treated as sickly sentimentalities. 

A Day 0/ Fate. 



June 22. 



I cannot conceive of a grander victory than that 
of a debased nature over itself. 

There is no memory that we cherish so sacredly 
and tenderly as that of our parents' kind and pa- 
tient love. 

K7iight of the Ntnetee7ith Century. 



188 



June 21. 



June 22. 



189 



June 23, 



" Remember now and always that the only true 
strength comes from Heaven." 

" Happy will the home be in which that laugh 

makes music." 

A Day 0/ Fate. 



June 24. 
" Well, I have listened to your sermon and un- 
derstand it, and that is more than I can say of 
many I have heard. It certainly was pointed, and 
seemed pointed at me, and I have heard it said 
that it is proof of a good sermon for each one to 
go away feeling that he has been distinctly preached 

at." 

Frorn yest to Earnest, 

Every purple - tipped strawberry runner, every 
bud forming at the stem of the leaf, every ripen- 
ing seed, should teach us that it is God's will that 
we should live and be happy in the future as well 

as in the present. 

P/ay and Profit. 
I go 



June 23. 



June 24. 

Empress Josephine. 1763. 

Henry Ward Beecher. 1813. 



191 



June 25. 

"Truth has become the warp and woof of your 

nature. Ah ! here is your emblem, not growing 

in the garden, but leaning over the fence as if it 

would like to come in, and yet, among all the roses 

here, where is there one that excels this flower ?" 

And I gathered for her two or three sprays of 

sweetbrier. 

A Day of Fate. 

" It is a pity that noblemen are compelled to 

aught but noble deeds." 

Barriers Buriied Away. 



June 26. 



I have imagined that to create a lovely home, 
and to gather in it all the beauty within one's 
reach, and just the people one best liked, would be 
a very congenial life-work for some women. 

" That man talks right to one, and not fifty miles 

over your head. I'll come here every Sunday if 

you will." 

Without a Home. 



192 



June 25. 



June 26. 
P. Doddridge. 1702. 



193 



June 27. 

It was her philosophy that outward surrounding's 
impart their coloring to the mind, and are a help or 
a hinderance. She was a disciple of the light, and 
was well aware that she must resolutely dwell in 
its full effulgence. Thus she sought to make her 
home not gay or gaudy, but cheerful and light- 
some. 

Knight of the N^ineteenth Century. 

While courtly, polished, and refined in externals, 
he lacked in tact and nicety of discrimination. 

A Day of Fate. 

June 28. 



Only weak natures fume at the inevitable. There 
is a certain dignity in silent, passive despair. 

Opening a Chest 7iut Burr. 

The whole of her strong womanly soul, thor- 
oughly aroused, was in her face, and it shone like 

that of an angel. 

Barriers Burned Away. 



194 



June 27. 



June 2S.. 

Rubens. 1577. 

Rousseau. 1 7 1 2. 



195 



June 29. 

Many a one has condemned himself and sunk 
into the apathy of death, but He who came to seek 
and save the lost has lifted him with the arms of 
forgiving love, and helped him back to the safety 
and happiness of the fold. Satan only, never the 
Saviour^ bids the sinner despair. 

Opening a Chestnut Bur?-. 

This world is evidently sadly out of joint. We 
all know of the most gentle, lovely, unselfish spir- 
its, beautiful to Heaven's eye, that are enshrined 
in painfully plain caskets. 

From yest to Earnest. 

June 30. 



She had long before passed beyond sobbing 
and tears, and now possessed the strange, unnatu- 
ral calmness of those who are lifted by some great 
emergency of sorrow far above their ordinary 

moods and powers. 

Near to Nature'' s Heart. 

But what human soul can dwell alone? The 
true hermit finds in communion with the Divine 
mind the perfection of companionship. 

What Can She Do ? 



196 



June 29. 



June 30, 



197 



Julg. 



The sweet, low monotone of the summer wind 
was playing still among the maples. I do believe 
that it was the same old bumble-bee tnat darted in, 
still unable to overcome its irate wonder at a people 
who could be so quiet and serene. The sunlight 
flickered in here and there, and shadowy leaves 
moved noiselessly up and down the whitewashed 
wall. Only the occasional song of a bird was want- 
ing to reproduce the former hour, but at this later 
season the birds seem content with calls and chirp- 
ings, and in the July heat they were almost as silent 

as we were. 

• A Day of Fate. 



rgg 



July i. 

I am decidedly under the impression that Eve 
helped Adam, especially as the sun declined. I 
am sure that they had small fruits for breakfast, 
dinner, and supper, and would not at all be sur- 
prised if they ate between meals. Even we poor 
mortals, who have sinned more than once, and must 
give our minds to the effort not to appear unnatural 
in many hideous styles of dress, can fare as well. 
Success with Sttiall Fruits, 

You have -cause to be glad, for she can be a 

friend that will make life richer. 

A Day of Fate. 

July 2. 



I do not think that a man, who has been absorbed 
by a love for a pure, good woman, can ever make 
a beast of himself, unless there is something essen- 
tially gross in his nature. 

Near to Nature^ s Heart. 

One thing I know to be true — the burdened in 
heart or conscience would instinctively turn to you. 

A Day of Fate. 



200 



July i. 



July 2, 



20T 



July 3. 



The old g^arden, half hidden by trees, looked cool 
and Eden-like in the light of the July moon, athwart 
whose silver hemisphere fleecy clouds were drifting 
like the traces of thought across a bright face. 

A Day 0/ Pate. 

Endowed with youth, health, and . . . more 

than usual ability, ... he would achieve 

success. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 



July 4. 

To her, he embodied the Declaration which he 
was to read, and was a synonym for liberty. In her 
fancy, she compared him to the youthful David of 
Bible history, and the loftiest Shakespearian heroes ; 
and her heart overflowed in gratitude to God that 
he had raised up such a friend. 

" Your thoughts are as crystal as yonder spring," 

he said ; ' ' and yet you are enshrouded in mystery. 

How came you so conversant with the two great 

books of the world ?" 

Near to Nature's Heart. 



202 



July 3. 



July 4. 
Nathaniel Hawthorne. 1804. 



20- 



July 5. 

The spent years had been filled with continuous 
and varied activity. What had she accomplished for 
herself or any one else ? Were not all her past 
days like water spilled on barren sands, producing 
nothing ? She had been receiving homage, flattery, 
and even love, all her life, and yet now her heart 
had no treasures to which she could turn in solid 
satisfaction. The adulation received was now 
empty breath and forgotten words, and nothing 
substantial or comforting remained. 

From Jest to Earnest. 

He is a brave fellow, and I had no idea that 
there was so much of him. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 

July 6. 



As he worked patiently at his noble calling, his 
smaller ambition was gradually lost in the nobler, 
broader one, to be a true artist and good man. 

Barriers Burned Away. 

He would expect her to be like the July days now 

passing — warm, bright, cloudless, and in keeping 

with his general prosperity. 

A Day of Fate. 



204 



July 5. 



July 6. 
J. Flaxjuan. 1755. 



205 



July 7. 

She had fine conversational powers, and her keen 
intuition and her controlHng passion to give pleas- 
ure enabled her to detect and draw out the best 
thoughts of others. 

A Face Ilhcmined. 

For a few moments the music was of a forced 
and defiant character, loud, gay, but no real or 
rollicking mirth in it, and it soon ceased. Then 
in sharp contrast came a sad, weird German ballad, 
and this was real. In its pathos her burdened 
heart found expression, and whoever listened then 
would not merely have admired, they would have 
felt. One song followed another. All the pent- 
up feeling of the day seemed to find natural flow 
in the plaintive minstrelsy of her own land. 

Barriers Bur?ied Away. 

July 8. 



Her capability of loving was large. 

His mind was cultivated, versatile, ever full of 

bright, fresh thoughts. 

Near to Nature'' s Heart. 



206 



July 7. 



July 8. 




La Fo}iiai)ie. 


1621 


F. Halleck. 


1790. 



207 



July 9. 



There are encouraging possibilities in the fact 
that from those windows of the soul, his eyes, a 
troubled rather than an evil spirit looks out. 

Opening a Chesttiut Burr. 

Hope is a hardy plant in the hearts of the young. 

Without a Home. 



July 10. 



In every field of life those who seek the fruit too 
rashly are almost sure to have a thorny experience, 
and to learn that prickings are provided for those 
who have no consciences. 

Success with Small Fruits. 



208 



July 9. 
H. Hallam. 1777. 



July 10. 



2og 



July ii. 

" To hold one's ground at times requires more 
courage, more heroic patience and fortitude, than 
any other effort we can make. Soldiers can charge 
against any odds better than they can simply and 
coolly stand their ground." 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 

At last the skies are clear again. Along the 
eastern horizon the retreating storm sends up oc- 
casional flashes, that seem like regretful thoughts 
of the past. Then night comes on, cool, moonlit, 
breathless. Not a leaf stirs where an hour before 
the sturdiest limbs bent to the earth. This must 
be Nature's commentary on the " peace that pass- 
eth all understanding." 

Play and Profit. 

July 12. 



Nature can do much to render a countenance 

attractive, but character accomplishes far more. 

The beauty which is of feature merely catches the 

careless, wandering eye. The beauty which is the 

reflex of character holds the eye, and eventually 

wins the heart. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 

"Thank Heaven," she said, "I know of one 
more true man in the world, if he is a strange one." 

What Can She Do ? 



210 



July ii. 
J. Q. Adams. 1767. 



July 12. 
yuliiis Ccesar. 100 B.C. 
H. D. Thoreau. 1817. 



211 



July 13. 



We may gather more than berries from our fruit- 
gardens. Nature hangs thoughts and suggestions 
on every spray, and blackberry bushes give many 
an impressive scratch to teach us that good and 
evil are very near together in this world, and that 
we must be careful, while seeking the one, to avoid 

the other. 

Success ivitli Small Fruits, 



July 14. 



A deep abiding liking for any pursuit is not the 
growth of a night. We do not wake up as in the 
fairy tales and find ourselves or everything around 
us changed. However general may be the taste 
for rural life, a most decided predisposition and 
love of it, as of anything else, must either be in- 
herited or developed by peculiar circumstances. 

Play and Profit. 



21: 



July 13. 



July 14. 



213 



July 15. 

The power of truth can scarcely be overestimated, 
and the mind that earnestly seeks it becomes noble 
in its noble quest. If this can be said of truth in 
the abstract, and in its humbler manifestations, 
how omnipotent truth becomes in its grandest cul- 
mination and embodied in a being capable of in- 
spiring our profoundest fear and deepest love. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 

Little acts and tokens of kindly feeling .... 
like glints of sunlight on her shadowed path. 

What Can She Do ? 

July 16. 
It seemed as if he could make life one long gal- 
lery of beautiful objects. 

Knight of the Ni7ieteenth Century. 

The cloud scenery has all changed. The sun is 
setting in unclouded splendor. Not the west but 
the east is now black with storm ; but the rainbow, 
emblem of hope and God's mercy, spans its black- 
ness, and in the skies we again have suggested to 
us a life, once clouded and darkly threatened by 
evil, but now, through penitence and reform, end- 
ing in peace and beauty, God spanning the wrong 
of the past with his rich and varied promises of 

forgiveness. 

Play and Profit. 
214 



July 15. 
Rembra 71 dt. 1606. 



July i6. 
Sir J. Rey7iolds. 1723. 



215 



July 17. 

Skill and industry can wring from reluctant 
Nature a fair return. Sour, cold, unyielding soil, 
like a churlish disposition, can be greatly im- 
proved by kindly treatment. It wants mellowing 
up, as so many people do. Though in both cases 
we like to go into the improving business where it 
can be done readily, and effort goes a good ways ; 
still, when driven to it by conscience or necessity, 
we find much improvement possible, even under 

the most adverse circumstances. 

Play and Profit. 

July 18. 

I aim to be just what I seem — neither more nor 
less ; and I am very much afraid of people who do 
not speak the truth, especially when they are dis- 
posed to say nice things. 

A Day of Fate. 

Gooseberries are like some ladies that we all 
know. In their young and blossoming days they 
are sweet and pink-hued, and then they grow acid, 
pale, and hard ; but in the ripening experience of 
later life they become sweet again and tender. Be- 
fore they drop from their places the bees come 
back for honey, and find it. 

Success with Stnall Fruits. 
216 



July 17. 



July 18. 
IV. M. Thackeray. 181 1. 



217 



July 19. 

Small fruits, to people who live in the country, 

are like heaven — objects of universal desire and 

very general neglect. 

Success zvith Small Fruits. 

The world has power over your fate only as you 
give it power. You need not lie like a helpless 
worm in its path, waiting to be crushed. Get up 
like a man, and take care of yourself. The world 
may let you starve, but it cannot prevent you from 
becoming good and true and manly. 

V KnigJit of the Nineteefith Centu?'y. 

July 20. 



Her life is like a glad, musical mountain stream, 
while I am a stagnant pool that she passes and 
leaves behind. I wonder if it is possible for one 
life to be awakened and quickened by another? 
Opening a C/iestfiut Burr. 

I am one that the fickle goddess has rarely 
smiled upon, and hard work »has been the only 
Aladdin's lamp of my experience. 

Play and Profit. 



218 



July 19. 



July 20. 
Petrarch. 1304. 



219 



July 21. 



The western bank with its deepening shadows 

was like a happy face passing from thought into 

revery, which, if not sad, is at least tinged with 

melancholy. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 

In a sincere and deep affection there are great 

possibilities of good. 

Barriers Burned Away. 



July 22. 



"No, as a woman I liked thee. Thee isn't as 

bad as thee seems," 

A Day of Fate. 

He looked, not only like one who could fight for 
liberty, but lead others in the conflict. 

Near to Nature'' s Heart. 



IIQ 



July 21. 
Matthew Prior. 1664. 



July 22. 
Garibaldi. 1807= 



221 



July 23. 

The free, strong, mountain spirit breathes in her 
every word and act. Old Greek mythology would 
certainly make her a nymph of the hills. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

Science has taught men how to build ships with 
water-tight compartments, so that if disaster 
crushes in on one side, the other parts may save 
from sinking. There are fortunate people who are 
built on the same safe principle. They have 
wealth or the ability to win wealth, strong family 
ties, and genuine friends. They have cultivated 
minds, and varied resources in artistic and scien- 
tific pursuits. Above all else, they have faith in 
God and a better life to come ; such possessions 
are like the compartments of a modern ship. Few 
disasters can destroy them all, and in the loss of 
one or more the soul is kept afloat by the others. 

A Face Illumined. 
July 24. 

That same manhood which is at once so strong, 
and yet so unselfish and gentle, had stood out be- 
fore her distinct and luminous in the light of a 
knightly deed, and she saw with the absoluteness 
of irresistible conviction that such a manhood was 
above and beyond all surface polish, all mere aes- 
thetic culture, all earthly rank — that it was some- 
thing that belonged to God, and partook of the 
eternity of his greatness and permanence. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 

Taking the sweet with the bitter, as ever must 
be done in this world, the sweet predominated, 
and the garden gradually and surely took its place 
in that warm corner of the heart that we reserve 
for the things we love. 

Play and Profit. 

222. 



July 23. 
Charlotte Cushman, i8i6. 



July 24. 
J. G. Holland, 181 9. 



223 



July 25. 

She did not fail him, but, with heightened color 

and voice that trembled slightly at first, ' ' started 

the tune." It was a sweet, familiar air, and she 

soon had the support of other voices. One after 

another they joined her in widely varying degrees 

of melody, even as the example of a noble life will 

gradually secure a number of more or less perfect 

imitators. 

Openifzg a CJiestnut Burr. 

' ' I said you were a gentleman ; I now say you 

are a man." 

Barriers Burned Aivay. 

July 26. 

' ' I like the expression of your face now, for in 
it I catch a glimpse of the divine image. Many 
think of God as looking down angrily and frown- 
ingly upon the foolish and wayward ; but I see in 
the solicitude of your face a faint reflection of the 
* Not willing that any should perish ' which it ever 
seems to me is the expression of His." 

A man who was good enough and brave enough 
to face any danger to which he felt impelled by a 
chivalric sense of duty. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 



224 



July 25. 



July 26. 



225 



July 27. 

There are wealthy people who are the most skil- 
ful of alchemists, and refine their money into books, 
pictures, and intellig-ent travel, and thence, by a 
mystic process, into the golden warp and woof of 
their minds. Modest diamonds may sparkle on 
their persons, but richer gems drop from their 
mouths. More truly, they are like the fruits in my 
garden, that from the gross abundance and materi- 
ality at their roots select with delicate precision and 
exquisite choice that which makes the melting rasp- 
berry and luscious grape. 

Play and Profit. 

July 28. 

Christ's words seemed addressed directly to her 
while she looked up into His face with rapt atten- 
tion. Instead of 7-eading her Lord's familiar say- 
ings, she seemed to liste^i to them as did the early 
disciples. After a little time she would close the 
Bible and go back to her hard practical Hfe with an 
awed yet strengthened hopeful expression, like that 
which must have rested on the disciples' faces on 
coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration. 

Barriei's Bttrfied Away. 



226 



July 27. 
Thomas Cainpbell. 1777. 



July 28, 



227 



July 29. 

The artist seemed to her princely, regal even, in 
his strong cultivated manhood, his lofty calling and 
ambition, and his high social rank. 

A Face Illumined. 

God had a right to curse the ground, but I doubt 
whether we have. And yet I can assure the reader 
that one thriftless gardener or amateur, whose en- 
thusiasm July has withered, can do more cursing 
or weed-seeding than half a generation can eradi- 
cate. 

Play and Profit. 

July 30. 

How omnipotent girls imagine themselves to be 
with those who swear they will do anything under 
heaven to please them, but usually go on in the old 
ways. 

" Men are so strange," she said, half vexedly. 
"they fall in love without the slightest provoca- 
tion, and hate each other forever, when a woman 
would have sharp words and be over with it. They 
never do what you would naturally expect." 

Ope7iing a Chestnut Burr. 



228 



JlLV 29. 

Hiram Powers. 1805. 



July 30. 
Samuel Rogers. 1763. 



229 



July 31. 

She suggested to him a life in which simplicity, 
truth, and genuine goodness might bring peace and 
hope to the heart. 

But there is that in genuine goodness and no- 
bility of character that always humiliates the bad 
and makes them feel their degradation. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr, 



230 



July 31. 



231 



august. 



Sometimes we have three or four showers a day, 
and the cloud scenery resulting is often marvel- 
lously beautiful ; but usually they make their ap- 
pearance some hot afternoon about three or four 
o'clock. 

At first, in the distant west, a cloud rises so dark 
that you can scarcely distinguish it from a blue 
headland. But a low muttering of thunder vi- 
brates through the sultry air, and we know what is 
coming. Soon the afternoon sun is shaded, and a 
deep, unnatural twilight settles upon the landscape, 
like the shadow of a great sorrow on a face that 
was smiling a moment before. 

At last the vanguard of black flying clouds, dis- 
jointed, jagged, the rough skirmish-line of the 
advancing storm, is over our heads. Back of these 
in one dark, solid mass, comes the tempest. For 
a moment there is a sort of hush of expectation, 
like the lull before a battle. The trees on the dis- 
tant brow of a mountain are seen to toss and writhe, 
but as yet no sound is heard. Soon there is a 
faint, far away rushing noise, the low, deep prel- 
ude of Nature's grand musical discord that is to 
follow. There is a vivid flash, and a startling peal 
of thunder breaks forth over head, and rolls away 
232 



with countless reverberations among the hills. In 
the meantime the distant rushing sound has de- 
veloped into an increasing roar. Half way down 
the mountain-side the trees are swaying wildly. 
At the base stands a grove, motionless, expectant, 
like a square of infantry awaiting an impetuous 
cavalry charge. In a moment it comes. At first 
the shock seems terrible. Every branch bends 
low. Dead limbs rattle down like hail. Leaves 
torn away fly wildly through the air. But the 
sturdy trunks stand their ground, and the baffled 
tempest passes on. Mingling with the rush of 
the wind and reverberations of thunder, a new 
sound, a new part now enters into the grand har- 
mony. At first it is a low continuous roar, caused 
by the falling rain upon the leaves. It grows 
louder fast, like the pattering feet of a coming 
multitude. Then the great drops fall around yards 
apart, like scattering shots. They grow closer, 
and soon a streaming torrent drives you to shelter. 
Gradually the roar of the thunder dies away down 
the river. The thickly falling rain contracts your 
vision to a narrow circle. The steady, continuous 
plash upon the roof slackens into a quiet pattering 
of rain-drops. The west is lightening up ; by 
and by a long line of blue is seen above Cro' 
Nest, The setting sun shines out upon a purified 
and more beautiful landscape. Every leaf, every 
spire of grass is brilliant with gems of moisture. 
233 



August i. 



The world will pay no heed to any amount of 
self-assertion, and will remain equally indifferent 
to appeals and upbraidings ; but sooner or later it 
will find out just what you are in your essential 
life, and will estimate you accordingly. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 



August 2. 



The Adams and Eves of every generation can 
have an Eden if they wish. Indeed, I know of 
many instances in which Eve creates a beautiful 
and fruitful garden without any help from Adam. 
Success with Small Fruits. 

" I am the most practical, matter-of-fact creature 
in existence, and you will find no one in this place 
more sharp on the question of dollars and cents." 

What Can She Do ? 



234 



August i. 



August 2. 



235 



August 3, 

There is as much diversity in the character of 
hands as in faces. Some are very white and 
shapely and a diamond flashes prettily upon them, 
but having said this you have said all. Others 
suggest honest work and plenty of it, and for such 
the sensible will ever have real respect, 

Openmg a Chestnut Burr. 

"Will you not let me be your humble, faithful 
friend, serving you loyally, devotedly, yet unob- 
trusively ?" 

What Can She Do f 

August 4. 



" The thought has passed through my mind that 
you might be so preoccupied in wishing good 
things for others as to quite forget yourself," 

A Face Illumined. 

It was impossible for the young man to be a 

cool advocate, or to be satisfied with halfway 

measures. 

Near to Nature'' s Heart. 



August 3. 
Earl Stanhope. 1753. 



August 4. 
Shelley. 1792. 



August 5. 

*' You are a mulish fellow when you get a pur- 
pose in your head." 

A Face Illumined. 

It is a good deal with seeds as people, the most 
showy and taking at first sight are not the best. 
In both cases the most showy are the most costly. 
But I never could resist the "novelties," though 
some of them turned out to be old acquaintances 
dressed up in new names, and more of them prove 
like many of the distingue people one meets at a 
watering-place who will not bear investigation. 
Still I expect I shall go on buying costly novelties 
to the end of life. There is an innate passion for 
speculation in human nature. 



Play and Profit. 



August 6. 



It is this living, loving, spiritual Presence that 
uplifts and sustains the sinking heart when the 
whole great world could only stand helplessly by. 
" Not as the world giveth, give I unto you." Yes, 
thank thee. Lord, "not as the world." 

A Day of Fate. 

What a chemist Nature is ! How in the name of 
all that is wonderful can she manage to give every 
kind of flower and vegetable a different perfume ? 
Some of the most homely and useful products of 
the garden give out odors that are as grateful as 
those of choice flowers, just as some human lives 
that are busiest and fullest of care have still the 
aroma of peace and rest about them. 

Play and Profit. 
238 



August 5. 



August 6. 

Malebranche. 1638. 

Feneloti. 1 65 1 . 



239 



August 7. 



If human experience proves anything it is that 

every life needs the personal and practical help — 

the direct touch and word of one who is Divinely 

powerful and Divinely patient. 

A Day of Fate. 

Never did a maiden live who had greater power 
to win and keep affection. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 



August 8. 

She was not adoring the Creator, nor paying 
homage to a king ; but, as the perfume rises from 
a flower, so her voice and manner seemed the 
natural expression of a true, strong affection for 
God himself, not afar off, but known as a near 
and dear friend. 

Opening a ChestJiut Burr. 

He abounded in virile force and good sense, and 
so gradually passed from self-complacency and 
conceit to the self-reliance and courage of a strong 
man who, while aware of his ability and vantage- 
ground, also recognizes the fact that nothing can 
take the place of skilfully directed industry in well- 
defined directions. 

A Face Illumined. 

240 



August 7. 



August 8. 



24T 



August g. 

Her influence was making him a better and 
truer man, and bringing a strange peace and hope- 
fulness into his soul, that hitherto had been full of 
unrest, and was at times embittered by impotent 
resentment at his destiny, and again weighed down 

by deep despondency. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 

We take memory and character with us from 
land to land, from youth to age, from this world 
to the other, from time through eternity. 

Barriers Burned Away. 

August io. 



He was not one who could be carried away by a 
sudden and absorbing passion. In any and every 
case, reason, judgment, and taste would offer their 
counsel, and their advice would be carefully 
weighed. 

' ' I thought how many roses and lives would be 

more perfect were it not for some gnawing ' worm 

i' the bud.'" 

A Face Illmnined. 



242 



August 9. 
John Drydtn. 1631, 



August 10. 
Count Cavour, 1810. 



243 



August ii. 



Who does not despise the man that invariably 

reminds you of his wealth rather than himself? 

Who can measure the contempt which that woman 

inspires who invariably secures attention to her 

dress, while graces of character are tardily, if ever, 

discovered. Such big, showy, useless plants are 

called weeds in the garden. 

Play and Profit. 

Of all spells, that of truth is the strongest. 

From yest to Earnest. 



August 12. 



To a certain extent, Gcd gives to the prayerful 

control of Himself, as it were, and becomes their 

willing agent ; and when the time comes when all 

mysteries are solved, and the record of all lives is 

truthfully revealed, it will probably be seen that 

not those who astonished the world with their own 

powers, but that those who quietly, through prayer, 

used God's power, were the ones who made the 

world move forward. 

From yest to Ea^'nest. 



244 



August ii, 



August 12. 
Robert Southey. 1774. 
Jeremy Taylor, 16 13. 



245 



August 13, 
If there is true metal in them, and they are not 
perverted by exceptionally bad influences, they out- 
grow the idea that to be fast and foolish is to be 
men as naturally as they do their roundabouts. 
Opening a Chestiitit Btirr. 

As has been hinted, it is the time-honored 
custom of story-tellers to marry off some of their 
principal characters in their closing chapter. I 
have already united my corn and beans in the de- 
lightful combination of succotash. Single beans 
and single corn are very well, but they are much 
better together. Good marriages always improve 

character. 

Play and Profit. 

August 14. 



Her lips, however, were so exquisitely chiselled 
that they made, for the time, any utterance agree- 
able, and suggested that only tasteful thoughts and 

words could come from them. 

A Day of Fate. 

Without the spur and incentive of hope we be- 
come perfectly helpless in evil. 

Kf light of the Nineteenth Century. 



246 



August 13. 



August 14. 



247 



August 15. 

" My castle in the air would be the counterpart 
of those which Scott describes, ... in that day 
there were knights sa7is peiir et sans rcproche. But 
now a gentleman is a gentleman, and all made up 
very much in the same style, like their dress-coats. 
I would like to have seen at least one genuine 
knight — a man good enough and brave enough to 
do and dare anything to which he could be im- 
pelled by a most chivalrous sense of duty." . . . 
" You are satirical to-day. In my opinion there 
are as true knights now as ever your favorite author 
described." 

"With God's help daily sought and obtained, 
you cannot fail. You can achieve that which the 
world cannot take from you, which will be a 
priceless possession after the world has forgotten 
you and you it — a noble character." 

Knight of the Nineteenth Centm-y. 

August 16. 

Your Bible teaches that the Being who controls 
completely the destiny of every person will be in 
the midst of those gathered in His name, to hear 
and answer the petitions. If this is true, then no 
earthly ruler was ever so neglected and insulted, so 
generally ignored as this very Deity to whom you 
ascribe unlimited power, and from whom you say 
you receive life and everything. 

Baj-ricrs Biirtied Aivay. 

Human faces can shine, although the sun be 

clouded. 

A Face Illumined. 



24S 



August 15. 

Napoleon Bofiapartc. 1769. 

Walter Scott. 1771. 



August 16, 



249 



August 17. 



The gentle but steady light of mother love, and 

through her a pale, half-recognized reflection of 

the love of God, illumined all these years ; and his 

father's strong, quiet affection made a background 

anything but dark. 

Opening a Chestnut Bun-. 

' ' The very sight of you inspires hope and cour- 
age." 

Bar?-iers Biit-ned Aivav. 



August iS. 



It is not strange that the distressed in body or 
mind turn away from a religion of dreary formali- 
ties and vague, uncomprehended mental processes. 
Instant and practical help is what is craved ; and 
just such help Christ ever gave when he came to 
manifest God's will and ways to men. 

Knight of the Nineteerith Century. 

I will dub you truest knight that ever served 

defenceless woman. 

Barriers Burned Away. 



250 



August 17. 



August 18. 



251 



August ig. 

The world is phosphorescent to the eyes of 
youth, and even engulfing waves of misfortune 
will sometimes gleam with sudden brightness. 

What Can She Do ? 

Her voice was singularly girlish and natural, and 
there would often be a tone in a plaintive and minor 
key that vibrated like a low, sweet chord in his 
heart rather than in his ears. It must be admitted 
that he gave little heed to the sacred words she 
read ; but the flexible music of her voice, mingled 
with the murmur of the brook, the rustle of the 
leaves and the occasional song of a bird, all com- 
bined to form the sweetest symphony he had ever 
heard. 

A Face Ilhanined. 

August 20. 



And he did possess decided talent, if not genius. 
But his artistic gift accorded with his character, 
and was controlled by judgment, correct taste, and 
intellectuality rather than by strong and erratic im- 
pulses. His aims were definite and decided rather 

than vague and diffusive. 

A Face Illufnified. 

" I am just as sincere as you are." 

Near to Nature's Heart. 



252 



August 19. 
Mendoza, 1398. 
Ber anger. 1780. 



August 20. 
Robert Her rick. 1591 



253 



August 21. 



A woman who was to him a new and beautiful 
revelation of the rarest excellence and grace. 

His standards were so high that, thus far, he 
had scarcely attempted more than studies that were 
like the musician's scales by which he seeks to ac- 
quire a skill in touch that shall enable him to ren- 
der justly the works of the great composers. 

A Face Illumined. 



August 22. 



In my soul I know that I would be a better man 

if she is what she seems, and could be to me all 

that I have dreamed ; and were I tenfold worse 

than I am, she would be the better for making me 

better. Did not Divine purity come the closest to 

sinful humanity? 

A Day of Fate. 

He seems a good genius — equal to any emer- 
gency. 

Barriers Burned Away. 



254 



August 21. 



August 22. 



255 



August 23. 



Sympathy from one's own kind is one of the 
deepest and most instinctive wants of the heart ; 
and there are times when it must be had, or the 
consequences are disastrous. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 

For some reason or other those about her always 

seem to be having a good time. 

A Face Illiiniined. 



August 24. 
" Though it is a King that speaks, he does not 
speak as a king. He is talking to his friends ; he 
is serving them with a humility and meekness that 
no sinful mortal has surpassed. He is proving, 
by the plain, simple teaching of actions that we 
are not merely his subjects, but his brethren, 
his sisters. He is proving, for all time, that serv- 
ing — not being served — is God*S patent of nobility- 
We should not despise the lowliest, for none can 

stoop so far as he stooped." 

A Day of Fate. 

" I have great faith in her tact and genuine good- 
will." 

A Face Illumined. 

256 



August 23. 
G. C. L. F. D. Cuvier. 1769. 



August 24. 

W. Wilberforce . 1759. 

Theodore Parker. 18 10. 



257 



August 25. 



As with little jets of silvery laughter, and but- 
terfly motion she hovered round him. the very em- 
bodiment of life and beautiful youth, she would 
have made, to an artist's eye, a very true idealiza- 
tion of the far-famed mythical fountain. 

A man can hardly be a man without exercising 
the right of independent thought. 

What Can She Do ? 



August 26. 



' My reason," he often resolved, " shall be like 
a judge upon the bench, and neither pride, preju- 
dice, my wishes, nor an unfair hearing, shall bribe 
or dispose it to a false decision." 

Near to Nature^ s Heart. 

The light of a great joy dawned in his face, and 

made it look noble and beautiful, as indeed almost 

every human face appears, when the light of a pure 

love falls upon it. 

What Can She Do ? 



258 



August 25. 



August 26. 
Sir i?. Walpole. 1676. 



259 



August 27. 

In human strength there is generally a trace of 
arrogance. Only Divine strength and purity can 
say with perfect love and full allowance for all 
weakness and adverse influences — 

" Neither do I condemn thee. Go, and sin no 

more, " 

Opening a Chesttiict Burr. 

When I hear or read of some such noble deed, I 

catch glimpses of a life infinitely better than the 

one I know, like the sun shining through a rift in 

the clouds. 

Barriers Burned Azvay. 

August 28. 
There are few larger-hearted, larger-souled men. 

"What can I do?" 

" That which nearly all women can do ; be kind 
and winning ; make our safe, cozy parlor so attrac- 
tive that he will not go out evenings to places 
which tend to destroy him. \'ou feel an interest in 
him ; show it. Ask him about his business, and 
get him to explain it to you. Suggest that if you 
were a man you would like to master your work, 
and become eminent in it. Show by your manner 
and by words, if occasion offers, that you love and- 
revere all that is sacred, pure, and Christian. 
Laura, innocent dove as you are, you know that 
many women beguile men to ruin with smiles. 
Men can be beguiled /"r^w ruin with smiles." 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 

260 



AUGl'ST 27. 

B. G. Niebuhr. )7 76. 



August 28. 
Goethe. 1749. 



261 



August 29. 



The world will never cease witnessing the wrongs 
that men commit against each other ; but perhaps 
if the wrongs and cruelties that people inflict on 
themselves could be summed up, the painful aggre- 
gate would be much larger 

Opefii'ng a Chestnut Burr. 

You would make a man laugh in the face of fate. 
Barriers Burned Away. 



August 30. 

" St. Peter will have to open the gate wide when 
she comes in with her crowd. 'Pears to me some- 
times that I can fairly hear Satan a-gnashin' of his 
teeth over that woman. She's the wust enemy he 

has in town." 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 

He was like a ship that had been driven hither 

and thither tempest-tossed and in danger, but 

which, on reaching a clear skv and smooth water 

at last, finds its true bearings, and steadily pursues 

its homeward voyage. 

Barriers Burned Aivay. 

262 



August 29. 

Oliver Wendell Hobnes. 1809. 

Johti Locke. 1632. 



August 30. 



263 



August 31. 

With reviving hope and faith, her strength and 
vigor returned ; for. in her case, the spiritual and 
physical organizations were so closely allied that 
one could not suffer without keen sympathy from 
the other. But in both she was naturally healthful, 
having been nurtured in the atmosphere of truth, 
and the bracing air of the mountains. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 

And his smile was broad and genial enough to 

have lighted up a dungeon. 

A Day of Fate. 



264 



August 31, 



265 



September. 



Look around this lovely autumn evening. See 
the crimson glory of those clouds yonder in the 
west. See that brightness shading off into paler 
and more exquisite tints. Look, how those many- 
hued leaves reflect the glowing sky. The air is as 
sweet and balmy as that of Eden could have been. 
The landscape is beautiful in itself, and specially 
attractive to you. To our human eyes it hardly 
seems as if heaven could be more perfect than this. 
Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

The autumn winds of early September were 

again prophesying of winter ; but only in plaintive 

suggestion, for summer yet lingered in their mild 

breath. 

Near to Nature'' s Heart, 



267 



September i. 

" What an unusual voice she has," he thought. 
''Truly the spirit of David's harp, that could 
banish the demon from Saul, dwells in it. I won- 
der if she is as good and real as she seems, or 
whether, under the stress of temptation or the poi- 
son of flattery, she would not show herself a true 

daughter of Eve ?" 

Opening a C/iestnut Burr. 

" If I mistake not, thee'U change our duty into 

pleasure." 

A Day of Fate. 

September 2. 



" I love my calling. There is such a deep satis- 
faction in relieving pain and rescuing life, or at 
least in trying to do so ; and then one often has a 
chance to say words that may bring lasting com- 
fort." 

Without a Home. 

" And T have lived long enough to know that 

what people intend and what they do are two very 

different things." 

Barriers Burned A'vay. 



268 



September i. 



Skftember 2. 
John Howard. 1726, 



26() 



September 3. 



But when through all experiences she has kept a 
young heart, it will often show itself in a sprightli- 
ness. a spring-like, youthful manner, just as many 
days in September remind you of May. 

Man is a queer animal to boast of reason ; for, 

go the world over, Ciod's best gifts are generally 

the most slighted. 

Play and Profit. 



September 4. 

Nothing in Nature seemed to turn away from 
her, any more than would Nature's God. 

What Can She Do f 

Make the most of September, for you will have 

nothing like it till May comes round again. Alas I 

May comes but once in human life, and even to the 

bravest and most beautiful, autumn must grow sere 

and sad painfully fast, when there is no hope of 

the " glory that fadeth not away." Such may well 

cling to September. 

Play and Profit. 



270 



September 3. 



September 4. 

Pindar. 520 B.C. 

Chateaubriand. 1769. 

Fhcebe Caiy. 1824. 



271 



September 5. 

Never before had he met a woman who had 
seemed endowed with so many attractive qualities. 
She was not beautiful — a cardinal virtue with him 
— but her face often lighted up with something so 
near akin to beauty, as to leave little cause to re- 
gret its absence. And the conviction grew upon 
him that the spirit enshrined within the graceful 
and fragile form was almost perfection itself, 

A Face Illumined. 

" Well may the purest and strongest pray to be 
' kept from the evil of the world.' " 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

September 6. 



" I have found a man not only able to gratify all 

my tastes — and you know that many of them are 

rather expensive — but he himself satisfies my most 

critical taste, and even fills out the ideal of my 

fancy." 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 

"You would not be afraid of shot and shell, 

only the noise of a battle.'' 

A Day 0/ Fate. 



272 



September 5. 
Richelieu. 1585. 



September 6. 

Lafayette. 1757. 

Horatio Greenoiigh. 1805, 



273 



September 7. 



One may accept of religious forms and philos- 
ophies, and be little changed thereby. But the 
man that accepts of Jesus Christ as a personal and 
living teacher, as did the fishermen of Galilee, that 
man begins to grow large and noble, brave and 

patient. 

Kiiight of the Nirieteenth Cetitiiry. 

" She's genuine." 

A Day of Fate. 



September 8. 

He had narrowed down his life to little else than 
business. He had never acquired a taste for art 
and literature, nor had he given himself time for 
broad culture. But we meet narrow artists, nar- 
row clergymen, narrow scientists just as truly. If 
you do not get on their hobby, and ride with them 
they seem disposed to ride over you. 

What Can She Do ? 

She still looked like one who had but just de- 
scended from a lofty spiritual height 

A Day of Fate. 



274 



September 7. 

Elizabeth. 1533. 

Buff on. 1707. 



September 8. 

L. Ariosto. 1474. 

John Ley den. iTJS- 



275 



September 9. 

A faithful servant, speaking for Him whose 

coming was God's supreme expression of good-will 

toward men. 

A Face Illumined. 

The fitful waywardness, the April skies of youth, 

the intense feelings and passions of midsummer 

life, are passing into the calm and content of early 

autumn. She is, like the season, in a borderland 

between two dissimilar states, and having some of 

the characteristics of both. 

Play and Pi'ojit. 

V 

September 10. 



Few men prided themselves more on a profound 
knowledge of the world than he; 

A Face Ilhivilned. 

There is a beauty of Autumn as well as of 

Spring ; of age, as of youth. I have great hoper, 

of that boy who is enamored by a lady "old 

enough to be his mother." lie has an aspiring 

soul. 

Play and Pro/it. 



276 



September 9. 
/t*. C. Trench. 1807. 



September 10. 
Mungo Park. I'jji. 



277 



September ii. 



We do not like to share a supreme friendship. 
There are some in whose esteem we would be first. 
Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

Flecks of gray in the ' bonny brown hair" may 

awaken regretful thoughts of the approaching frost- 

iness of age, just as in early September there 

comes sighing through the trees a wind that speaks 

so plainly of the fading year that we are saddened 

in spite of ourselves. 

Play and Profit. 



September i2. 

She was not, and never could become, a great 
singer. But within the compass of her voice, she 
could pronounce sacred words in a manner that 
sent them home to the hearts of the listeners like 
rays that could both cheer and melt. 

A Face Illumined. 

*'You are a stranger, sir, but I perceive from 
your noble courtesy and bearing — your power to 
appreciate and bring out the best there is in us, 
that you belong to the royal family of the Great 
King. Your Master will reward you." 

prom Jest to Earnest. 

278 



SkP'IEMBKR II. 



September 12, 



279 



September 13. 



But God dwelt in her to that degree that she 

yearned toward a sinning, suffering soul, found in 

any guise. It was not in her woman's heart, filled 

with heaven's spirit, to pass by on the other side, 

and leave sin-robbed and wounded creatures to 

their fate 

Ofeninga Chestnut Burr-. 

*' Yes, you are very much alive." 

A Day 0/ Fate. 



September 14. 



There is nothing like religion lived out to open 
a heart closed against it. 

Even the statistics and statements of political 

economy seemed to fall from her lips in musical 

cadence, and yet there was no apparent effort and 

not a thought of effect. 

opening a Chestnut Burr. 



280 



September 13. 



September 14. 
H. Coleridge. i7o( 



2S1 



September 15. 

Her conversation was piquant, at times a little 
brusque, and utterly devoid of sentimentality. But 
now her choice of poetic thought and her tones re- 
vealed a wealth of womanly tenderness, and he 
was compelled to feel that her religion was not 
legal and cold, a system of duties, beliefs, and re- 
straints, but something that seemed to stir the 
depths of her soul with mystic longings and over- 
flow her heart with love. 

Ope?tjng a Che si nut Burr. 

"I predict for you success." 

From yest to Earnest. 

September 16. 



"I'd give all the world if I could be young. 

strong, and hopeful like him." 

A Face Illumined. 

There are hearts to whom life seems to promise 
one long, hopeless struggle to endure an incurable 
pain. Can there be peace for such unhappy ones? 
To just such human hearts were the words spoken, 
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto 

you." 

A Day of Fate. 



282 



September 15. 

J. F. Cooper. 1789. 

J. G. Percival. 1795. 



September 16, 



283 



September 17. 



As the witch-hazel is believed to have the power 
of indicating springs of water, however far beneath 
the surface, so she, by a subtle affinity, seemed to 
become speedily conscious of the sorrows and troub- 
les of others, even when sedulously hidden from 
general observation. 

" I have a great fancy for paddling my own light 
canoe, and such small craft will often float, you 
know, where a ship of the line would strike." 

A Face Ilhimined. 



September 18. 



" You could take the wickedest cuss livin' to 
heaven in spite of himself, if you would stay right 
by him all the time." 

He did not realize, as so many do not, that the 
petty vexations of life will often sting one who has 
the courage and strength to be a martyr, into the 
most humiliating displays of weakness. 

Opetiing a Chestnut Burr. 



284 



September 17. 



vSeptemher 18. 
S. Johns on, 1769, 



28s 



September 19. 



Too much water in land is like selfishness in 
character. There is no chance for real improve- 
ment till selfishness is reduced to a judicial regard 
for self-interest ; and the land that persists in hold- 
ing water, instead of giving it to the air above and 
springs below, is past praying for. Draining is a 

prime necessity. 

Flay and Profit. 



September 20. 



There is no more cruel mockery than to give one 
all save the very thing one wants, and in seeking to 
grasp that I have brought down upon myself this 
wretched blighting experience. 

There was not a particle of weak sentimentality 

about her, and her energetic spirit would make her 

a leader. 

Barriers Burned Away. 



286 



September 19. 
Lord Brougham. 1779. 



September 20. 
Alexander the Great B. C. 356. 



287 



September 21. 



Strong souls — once wholly unconscious of their 
power — at the touch of adequate motives pass into 
action and combinations which change the charac- 
ter of the whole world from age to age. 

Without a Home. 

With her brilliant eyes and exquisitely clear and 

delicate complexion, she seemed as beautiful, and 

at the same time as frail and ready to vanish, as the 

snow-wreaths without. 

From yest to Earnest. 



September 22. 



" You have the bearing of a gentleman." 
' ' Yes, sir ; and the character and standing of 
one.'' 

She who was ready to attack a man-of-war, 
turned and fled before that which a true woman 
fears more than an army — the appearance of evil. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 



288 



September 21. 
Savonarola. 1 45 2 . 



September 22. 

Lord CJiesierfield. 1694. 

G. S. Hillard. 1808. 



•89 



September 23. 



"She is both shy and reserved, but not diffident 
or awkward in the least. Indeed her manner might 
strike some as being peculiarly frank. But there is 
something back of it all ; for young as she un- 
doubtedly is, her face suggests to me some deep 
and unusual experience." 

What an unknown mystery each life is, even to 

the lives nearest to it ! 

A Face Illumined. 



September 24. 



"As people are born blind or scrofulous, so I 
suppose others can be born devoid of heart or con- 
science, inheriting from a degenerate ancestry sun- 
dry mean and vile propensities in their places. Hu- 
man nature is a scale that runs both up and down, 
and it is astonishing how far the extremes can be 

apart." 

A Face Illumined, 



290 



September 23. 



September 24. 



291 



September 25. 



A woman who could face what she saw before 
her, and utter no words of repining or reproach. 
Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 

He had an acute, active mind. Abundance of 
intellect and fire flashed from his dark eyes, and we 
have seen that he was not without good and gener- 
ous traits. 

From yest to Earnest. 



September 26. 



Indeed, modern skill — the alchemy of our age — 
has wrought such wonders, that Eden is possible 
again to all who will take the trouble to form Eden- 
like tastes and capacities. 

Success with Stnall Fruits. 



292 



September 25. 



September 26. 



293 



September 27. 



While she saw Nature in her rarest and purest 
beauty, she had also been given a glimpse into the 
more beautiful world of truth, where God dwells. 

It was a tendency of his nature and a necessity 

of his calling, that he should forget himself for the 

sake of others. 

From Jest to Earnest, 



September 28. 



One of the supreme rewards of human endeavor 

is a true home, and surely it is as stupid as it is 

wrong to neglect some of the simplest and yet most 

effectual means of securing this crown of earthly 

life. 

Success with Small Fruits. 



294 



September 27. 

Bossuet, 1627, 

Epes Sargent 181 2. 



September 28. 



295 



September 2g. 

He felt himself adamant in his stern resoluticn. 
He at least had the death-like peace that follows 
decision ; the agony of conflict was over for a 
time : and, as he thought, forever. 

Barrier's Burned Away. 

History and biography show that beautiful 

women, if true, gentle, and unselfish, have great 

power with their own sex, and almost unbounded 

influence over men. 

From Jest to Earnest. 



September 30, 

There is just as much difference in the character 
of ground as in that of people, and before enter- 
ing into intimate relations with either, some little 
investigation is necessary. It is said of some per- 
sons that the more you do for them the worse they 
treat you. There is the same grain of truth in 
this remark when applied to certain kinds of land. 
There are soils justly termed " hungry ungrateful." 
It is next to impossible to make them rich, still 

more so to keep them fertile. 

Play and Profit. 



296 



September 29, 
Horatio Nelson. 1758. 



September 30. 
Euripides. 480 B.C. 



297 



©ctober. 

He walked down the aisle out into the sunny 
noon of a warm October day. Birds were twitter- 
ing around the porch. Fall insects fill the air with 
their cheery chirpings. The bay of a dog, the 
shrill crowing of a cock, came softened across the 
fields from a neighboring farm. Cow-bells tinkled 
faintly in the distance, and two children were seen 
romping on a hillside, flitting here and there like 
butterflies. The trees were in gala dress of crim- 
son and gold, and even the mountains veiled their 
stern grandeur in a purple haze, through which the 
sun's rays shimmered with genial but not oppres- 
sive warmth. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



299 



October i. 

The country was a wonderland of many and 
varied delights. In the eyes of children the Gar- 
den of Eden survives from age to age. Alas ! the 
tendency to leave it survives also, and to those who 
remain, regions of beauty and mystery too often 
become angular farms and acres. 

Without a Home. 

But too often his mood was that of cold, hard 
skepticism, the frost of mid-winter. The impetus 
of his evil life would seemingly be long in spend- 
ing itself. 

Opening a Chestfitct Btirr. 

October 3. 



A haze had spread over the sky, increasing in 
leaden hue and density toward the west. The 
chilly wind moaned fitfully through the trees, and 
the landscape darkened as a face might with the 
shadow of coming trouble. 

Opening a Chestmit Burr. 

It is only commonplace people whose heads are 
turned by a little prosperity. 

Barriers Bur7ied Away, 



\oo 



October i. 

Lord Bolingbroke. 1678. 

Rufus Choate. 1799. 



October 2. 



301 



October 3. 



"There!" he said, "I have but crossed her 
steps in the hall, and she has stirred me and set 
my nerves tingling like an October breeze. She is 
a witch." 

Thought and feeling in some emergencies will do 

more than the grandest pulpit eloquence quenched 

by a Sunday dinner. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



October 4. 

The restless woman who has no home-hunger, 
no strong instinct to make a place which shall be a 
refuge for herself and those she loves, is not the 
woman God created. She is the product of a sin- 
ister evolution ; she is akin to the birds that will 
not build nests, but take possession of those al- 
ready constructed, ousting the rightful occupants. 

Without a Home. 

At last, nestling in a wild, picturesque valley, he 

saw the quaint outline of his former home. His 

heart yearned toward it, and he felt that next to his 

mother's face no other object could be so welcome. 

Opening a Chest mit Burr: 

302 



October 3. 
George Bancroft. 1800. 



October 4. 



303 



October 5. 



" I.eft to myself I should be the most unbal- 
anced man in the world." 

A Day of Fate. 

A woman endowed as you are can always do 
with a man one of two things : either fascinate 
him with her own personality, so that his thought 
is only of her ; or else through her beauty and 
words and manner, that are in keeping, suggest 
the diviner loveliness of a noble life and character. 

Fioni Jest to Ea?-nest. 



October 6. 



We were all under the spell of that exquisite 

melody which can fitly give expression to the 

deepest and tenderest feelings and most sacred 

aspirations of the heart. 

A Day 0/ Fate. 

" May Heaven's richest blessings go with you 
and follow you through a long happy life." 

Barriers Burned Away. 



304 



October 5. 
Horace Walpole. J 7 1 7 . 



October C. 
Jenny Lind Goldschtnidt. 1821, 



305 



October 7. 

" Tough old world, isn't it, for sinners like us?" 
he remarked. 

"Well, Mr. Growther. I've got rather tired of 
inveighing against the world ; I'm coming to think 
that the trouble is largely with myself." 

Knight of the Nmeteetith Century. 

"With all her faults and follies, she had never 

been a pale shadowy creature, full of complex 

psychological moods which neither she nor any one 

else could untangle. She knew w^hom and what 

she liked and disliked, and it was not her nature to 

do things by halves. 

A Face Illumined. 

October 8. 

" All that I see speaks to me of death," lamented 
a lachrymose moralist standing in a frost-bitten 
garden on a crisp, brilliant October day. This re- 
mark had been suggested by a shower of maple 
leaves, dropped around him by a sudden gust, that 
went ruthlessly through the grove, stripping the 
trees of their summer glory. And half the world 
sighs with him. 

Why do they not note that the leaves are so rich 
and gay in coloring that they seem like rainbows 
falling in fragments ? Why do they not see that 
every point where a leaf has parted from its spray, 
a bud has formed that will develop into other 
leaves, as large, green, and beautiful as were ever 
those now dropping away ? 

Play and Profit, 

306 



October 7, 
Wilhelm Miiller. 1795, 



October 8, 



307 



October 9. 



" He wouldn't risk the spoiling of his clothes for 
any woman living." 

She possessed a simplicity and unity which made 
it impossible for a part of such moral nature as she 
possessed to stand, if another part were under- 
mined or broken down. The whole fabric would 

Stand or fall together. -j- 

A Face Illumined, 



October 10. 



And when she gave him her hand at the sacred 
altar, it was not a helpless hand. 

From yest to Earnest. 

" You are very much in earnest. I never saw 
greater fideUty to conscience before." 

A Face Illutnined. 



303 



October g. 
Cervantes. 1547. 



October 10. 
B. West, 1738. 



309 



October ii. 



He is a high-toned pagan and worships beauty ; 
but with this outward perfection he also demands 
spiritual loveliness, for with him mind and honor 
are in the ascendant. 

She is continually giving up her life for Christ's 

sake, and as often lands it coming back to her in 

some richer, sweeter form. 

A Face Illumined. 



October. 12. 



"I've always heard that the peculiarly gifted 
were full of unaccountable moods." 

A Face Illuviined. 

How beautifully I learn from your face the differ- 
ence between dignity and pride. 

Barriers Burned Away, 



310 



October ii. 



October 12. 
Hugh Miller. 1802. 



3" 



October 13. 



" An' ye pay me in the coin I loikes best. Faix, 
ther's nothin' that goes furder wid man nor baste 
than a koind word. Though I'm a bit rough and 
reckless loike, I'd ruther have ye spake to me as ye 
does than a hatful of crowns." 

Near to Nature's Heart, 

" There is not a morbid, unnatural trait in you." 
Fro7)i Jest to Earnest. 



October 14. 



"Well, I guess thee's a pretty square sort of a 

man," 

A Day 0/ Fate. 

A woman may, at times, have no pity on herself, 
but it rarely happens that she is pitiless toward 
others, and it is said that she is often the most gen- 
erous and merciful toward those who have wronged 

her. 

A Pace Illumined. 



312 



October 13. 



October 14. 
William Penn. 1644. 



313 



October 15. 

"It is a rare and precious thing- to see outward 

beauty but the reflex of a more lovely spirit. Keep 

that spirit, my dear, and you will never lose your 

beauty, even though you grow old and faded as I 

am. I wish I could see you again, for your full 

sunny life has done me more good than I can tell 

you." 

From Jest to Earjtest. 

He was a man of thought and fancy rather than 

of decision and action. 

A Face Illumined. 

October 16, 



He's a true, good man. 

"Apart from your other gifts, you abound in 
personal magnetism, and almost instantly gain con- 
trol of those around you." 

From Jest to Earnest. 



314 



October 15. 

Virgil. 70 B.C. 

Paul Fleni7ning. 1609. 

Dannecker. 1758. 



October 16. 



315 



October 17. 



She was positively beautiful, as she sat at the 
piano, radiant with her purpose to cause gladness 
in others. She had created sunshine enough to en- 
liven the dismal day, and had quickened a hundred 

pulses with pleasure. 

A Pace Ilhanined. 

" Unlike most of the world, you are so much bet- 
ter than your creed as to be utterly inconsistent." 

Fi-om yest to Earnest. 



October 18. 
There is this somewhat mean tendency in human 
nature, that when we have got about all out of a 
person or thing that can be hoped for at present, 01 
when persons are so committed, like a crop nearly- 
matured, that they will give what is expected any- 
way, we are apt to flag in our attentions. •Here is 
where the short-sighted fail, for neither persons 
nor gardens will continue to commit themselves in 

our favor under such treatment. 

Play and Profit. 

He has intrusted to you the richest and rarest 
gifts, and every day that )'ou ha\-e misappropriated 
them is a burden upon your conscience. 

From Jest to Earnest. 
316 



October 17. 



October 18. 



317 



October 19. 

You have imagined a creature of unearthly per- 
fection, and expect your impossible ideal to be real- 
ized. Were she all that you have dreamed, she 
would be much too fine for an ordinary mortal like 

yourself. 

A Day of Fate. 

He would learn anew that the cool, well-balanced 

reason on which he had once so prided himself was 

scarcely equal to all the questions which complex 

human life presents. 

A Face Illumined. 



October 20. 

* I was awed by the beauty I saw, and it seemed 
as if the Great Artist must be near. I wished to 
call your attention to the truth that, like all His 
work, the least thing is perfect. That little tree 
with its red berries is beautiful as well as the moun- 
tain." 

Few days pass in which she does not lay up in 

memory some good deed, though she never stops 

to count her hoard. But, in gladness, she will 

learn in God's good time that such deeds are the 

riches that have no wings. 

From yest to Earnest. 

318 



October 19. 
Jofm Adams. 1735. 
Leigh Hu7it. 1784. 



October 20. 

Sir C. Wren 1632. 

Tho7?ias Hughes. 1823. 



319 



October 21. 

The storm we witness from our safe and shel- 
tered homes is often grand beyond description. 
A.t first, in the distant west, a cloud rises so dark 
that you can scarcely distinguish it from a blue 
highland. But a low muttering of thunder vibrates 
through the sultry air, and we know what is coming. 
Soon the afternoon sun is shaded, and a deep, un- 
natural twilight settles upon the landscape, like 
the shadow of a great sorrow on a face that was 
smiling a moment before. 

Play and Profit. 

If people persist in cherishing some worm of 
evil, they cannot expect to be held in the same 
esteem as those who are aiming at a more perfect 
development. 

A Face Illumined. 

October 22. 
He expected esteem, respectful courtesy — and 
even admiration — as a matter of course. They 
were in part his birthright and partly the result of 
his own achievement, and he received them as 
quietly as his customary income. Their presence 
was like his excellent health, to which he scarcely 
gave a thought, but their withdrawal would have 
affected him keenly, although he had never con- 
sidered the possibility of such a thing. 

"She is gifted with a mind, and she uses it for 
the benefit of others instead of tasking it solely on 
her own account, which is the general rule." 

A Face Illumined. 
320 



October 21. 

6". T. Co/e?'idge. 1772. 

Lama rtine. 1792. 



October 22. 
Sir P. Francis. 1740 



'^21 



October 23. 



* ' I could not speak civilly to a lady that I had 
just seen giggling and flirting through one of 
Beethoven's finest symphonies." 

A Face Illumined. 

He had the bearing of one gifted with unlimited 
natural daring, rather than the calm, patient cour- 
age which would lead a man to die at his post. 

Near to Nature^s Heart. 



October 24. 



Men who meet great disaster with courage and 

fortitude, and hopefully set about retrieving it, 

possess an inherent nobility such as no King or 

Kaiser could bestow. 

Barriers Burned Away. 

The peace and hopefulness of nature were 
breathed into her heart. 

Near to Nature'' s Heart. 



322 



October 23. 



OcTOHER 24. 



323 



October 25. 

Self-respect does not depend upon the opinion 
of the world. The world has nothing to do with 
the matter. You certainly do not expect I am go- 
ing to misrepresent you before it. 

Openi7ig a Chest fiut Burr. 

" If I had skipped all the chapters which treat 

of woman's heroism, in doing and suffering, I 

should, indeed, know little of history. She has 

proved herself the equal, and at times the superior 

of man." 

From yest to Earnest. 

October 26. 

' ' As the wise men from the East travelled stead- 
ily across arid wastes with eyes fixed only on the 
strange bright luminary that was guiding them to 
Bethlehem, so we should regard this world as a 
desert across which we must hasten to the presence 

of our God." 

From Jest to Earnest. 

She was simply herself, bright and exhilarating 
as the October sunshine, but as pure and strong. 
She was ready for jest and repartee. She showed 
almost a childish delight for every odd and pretty 
thing that met her eye. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

324 



October 25. 
Macaulay. 1 800. 



October 26. 



325 



October 27. 



So the Divine Friend waits and watches, even till 
the dews of morning fall, while we, in ignorance 
and unbelief, pay no heed. Stranger far, He 
waits and watches when we know, but yet, un- 
relenting, ignore His presence. 

Barriers Burned Away. 

If she took it into her head that anything was 
"duty," all the world couldn't change her. 

From yest to Earnest. 



October 28. 



"Well, she is the freshest and most unhack- 
neyed lady I have ever met for one who knows so 

much." 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

Shame on you, therefore, men and women of 
the world, who expend your whole strength on the 
passing hour on this first stage of the journey, this 
first crude phase of life, with no thought or pro- 
vision for what is coming. 

Play and Profit. 



326 



October 27. 



October 28. 
Eras7?ius. 1467, 



32: 



October 29. 

In early life he had breathed the very atmo- 
sphere of truth, and his tendency to sincerity ever 
remained the best element of his character. His 
was one of those fine-fibred natures most suscep- 
tible to serious wounding and injury. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

Her features were so perfect that I could not 

help looking- at them, and the more I looked the 

more annoyed I became to find that, instead of 

being blended together into a divine face' by the 

mind within, they were the reluctant slaves of as 

picayune a soul as ever. 

A Face Illumined. 

October 30. 



Young enthusiasts of every age are going to 

turn the world upside down, but I note it goes on 

very much the same. 

From yest to Earnest. 

The development of the soul, under the in- 
fluence of a Divine, ever-present Spirit, was a 
truth concerning which he had little knowledge 

and no faith. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 



328 



OcroHER 29. 
John Keats. 1796. 



October 30. 
Sheridan, 1751. 



329 



October 31. 



It seems true, as she said, that she draws her life 
from nature, and will never grow old. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

Religion doesn't do us much good until we learn 
to know our Lord as " good and tender-hearted," 
and so near, too, that we can speak to him, when- 
ever we wish, as the disciples did in old times. 

A Face Illumined. 



330 



October 31, 



331 



TSIobemter. 

All summer long your leaf has rustled and flut- 
tered joyously over the certainty that a richer and 
fuller life would come after it, a life that it was 
providing for all through the sunny days and dewy 
nights. There is no death here, only change for 
the better. And so with everything that has 
bloomed and flourished in this garden during the 
past season, provision has been made for new and 
more abundant life. When a king exchanges old 
and worn apparel, even though regal, for new and 
more royal robes, would we sigh over the old cast- 
offs, as if the king were dead, when in a few hours 
he will be upon his throne grander than ever ? All 
these bright but falling leaves and fading flowers 
arc but (^ueen Nature's cast-offs, her mere orna- 
ments that she is throwing carelessly aside as she 
withdraws for a little time from her regal state. 
Wait till she appears again next spring, as young, 
fresh, and beautiful as when, like Eve, she saw her 
first bright morning. Come and see her upon her 
throne next June. Nature full of death ! Why, 
she speaks of nothing but life to those who under- 
stand her language. 

Opening a Chesftiiit Bur)-. 



333 



November i. 



' ' Any common man may have kingly power, and 

the meanest have cursed the world with it. But the 

power to win men from evil is godlike, and only the 

godlike have it." 

From yest to Earnest. 

" I can trust her — she is true." 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



November 2. 



The human heart is ever the same — wilful, pas- 
sionate. With many it is often like the wild storm 
that will spend itself to the end, no matter how 
much wreck and ruin is wrought. With such as Miss 
Martell, it is like the storm which, at its height, heard 
the words of the Divine Master — " Peace, be still." 

From yest to Earnest. 

" It is your nature to be good and noble." 

Openitig a Chestnut Burr. 



334 



Nov EM HER I. 

Sir Matthew Hale. 1619. 



NOVEMIJER 2. 



335 



November 3. 

His face was aglow with earnest, elevating 

thoughts. 

From yest to Earnest. 

When such a woman grows old gracefully, sweet- 
ened and ripened in character by the action of time, 
she is a most charming companion for all. The 
infirmities of age have not come, but she knows 
that they are near, and her sympathies instinctively 
go out to those who are (as she soon will be) bend- 
ing under the burden of years. 

Play and Profit. 

November 4. 



Her face shone with an inward light, and, even 
in the midst of sorrow and wet with tears, reminded 
one of a lantern on a stormy night which, covered 
with rain-drops, still gives light and comfort. 

Opening a Chest fiut Burr. 

He has listened to and helped multitudes of 
others in every kind of trouble and wrong. 

A Face Illumined. 



33^ 



November 3. 
WilHa?n Cullen Bryant. 1794. 



Ntn'EMHER 4. 

James Montgomery. 1 7 7 1 



337 



November 5. 

" God is the Divine Artist, and is furnishing 
themes for all other artists. God is the author of 
landscapes, mountains, rivers, of scenes like that 
we saw this morning, or of a fine face and a noble 
form, as truly as of a chapter in the Bible. He 
manifests himself in these things. Fine paintings, 
statuary, and music, bring out the hidden mean- 
ings of nature, and therefore more clearly God's 

thought. 

From Jest to Earnest. 

" Had I my way, you should have rare good fort- 
une every day in the year." 

A Face Illumined. 

November 6. 

The world is very prone to call every man who 
is possessed by a little earnestness or enthusiasm a 
fool, but it is usually an open question which is the 
more foolish — the world or the man ; and perhaps 
we shall all learn some day that there was more of 
sanity in our rhapsodies than in the shrewd calcu- 
lations that verged toward meanness. 

A Face Illumined. 

' ' The simple truth is, we hold our own lives in 
trust from God, to be used according to his will, 
and we have no more right to destroy the life he en- 
trusts to us than the life he gives to others." 

From, yest to Earnest. 

338 



November 5. 

Hans Sachs. 1494. 

Washington Allston. 1779. 



November 6. 
Gregory. 1638. 



339 



November 7. 

Providence had given to her the chance to live 
the life of ideal v^'omanhood — the life of love and 
devotion — and she did not mean to lose it. Like 
the Marys of the Bible, who were loyal to the lowly 
Nazarene, her awakened and renewed nature was 
capable of consecration to what the world regarded 
as a humble phase of Christian service, and while 
her high spirit would often chafe with a little whole- 
some friction, it would yet grow sweeter and more 
patient under the trials of the hardest lot. 

Fro7n Jest to Earnest. 

" God bless him for his hearty, hopeful words." 

A Face Illumined. 

NOVEMRBR 8. 



" Feeling varies so widely and strangely in vari- 
ous circumstances and with different temperaments 
that many a true saint of God would be left in cruel 
uncertainty if this were the test. My creed is a 
very simple one, but I take a world of comfort in it. 
It contains only three words — Trust : follow Christ 

— that is all." 

Knight 0/ the Nineteenth Century. 

" But I am a man of the world." 

A Day of Fate. 



340 



November 7. 



November 8. 
William Wirt. 1772. 



341 



November 9. 



' ' After all, the highest art is the bringing out on 
the living face all we can of God's lost image. 
How beautiful the changes in these faces, and the 
best part of it is, that they are the reflex of changes 
going on in the soul, the imperishable part." 

Barriers Burned Away. 

" Ah, Richard, there are some things in life that 

thee hasn't learned yet, and all the books couldn't 

teach thee." 

A Day of Fate. 



November 10. 

" My belief is the same substantially as that of 

Paul, Augustine, Luther, and the best people of 

my own age ; and Luther, who did more for the 

world than any mere man, said that to ' pray well 

was to work well.' " 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

" He is a true, noble-hearted fellow. He shows 
his worst side at once, but you would discover new 
and good traits in him every day." 

The darkest clouds that shadow our paths are 

not the vapors that rise from the earth, but the 

thoughts and memories of an unhappy and a sinful 

heart. 

A Face Illumined. 

342 



November g. 



November io. 

Mitrtin Luther. 1483, 

O. Goldsmith. 1728. 

Schiller. 1759. 



343 



November ii. 



She would as soon have planted in her flower- 
bed the seeds of tender annuals on the eve of au- 
tumn frosts, and have expected bloom in chill 
December, as to enter upon a course that God frowns 
upon, and look for happiness. 

" I can appreciate your nobleness, courage, and 
fidelity to conscience. I thought such heroism be- 
longed only to the past." 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



November 12. 



In a world like ours there is but one place where 

continued peace and the absolute assurance of safety 

can be maintained — tjie depths of a soul stayed on 

Christ. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

With all her strength and fearlessness, she had 
kept her woman's heart gentle and tender. 

A Day 0/ Fate. 



344 



November ii, 
Alfred de M us set. 1810. 



NOVEMHEK 12. 

Richard Baxter. 1615. 



345 



November 13. 

In fighting- and subduing the evils of one's own 
nature a man attained the noblest degree of knight- 
hood. He had already learned how severe was 
the conflict in which he had been led to engage. 
Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 

" I suppose love transfigures the one we love, and 
that this is the only way we can ever meet our ideal 
in this life. But sometimes we see one who it 
seems might approach even the ideal of our un- 
biassed fancy." 

From Jest to Earnest. 

November 14. 

He was learning to trust in Christ as an all-pow- 
erful and personal friend ; he was daily seeking to 
grasp the principles which Christ taught, but more 
clearly acted out, and which are essential to the 
formati^Dn of a noble character. He had thus com- 
plied with the best conditions of spiritual growth. 
Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 

Just as the sun follows the night that it may 
bring the day, so the Sun of Righteousness seeks 
out all that is dark in our lives that he may shine it 
away. Gladness, then, should be the rule of our 
lives. Nothing to him is so pleasing as gladness, 
if it comes from the heart of pilgrims truly home- 
ward bound. 

A Day of Fate. 

346 



NOVEMHER 13. 

St. Augustine. 354. 



November 14. 
Jacob Abbott. 1803. 



347 



November 15. 



Could I be a true man and be silent, believing 

what I do ? Could I hear the name of my Best 

Friend thus spoken of, and say not one word in his 

behalf ? 

Barriers Burned Away. 

Your philosophy of life is wrong. You still be- 
long to that old school who would have it that sun, 
moon, and stars revolve around the earth. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



November 16. 

Rugged, rocky steeps rose on either side, one 
shimmering in the moonlight, and the other lying 
in the deepest shadow. Glades and vistas opened 
here and there, with strange effect, among the giant 
trees of the valley. The closely ranked cedars and 
hemlocks concealed every vestige of the little log 
hut, and the inmates, as they then appeared, were 
so unlike ordinary people, that he felt that they and 
the whole scene were more like a creation of the 
fancy than a part of the real world. But to him, 
who was weary of the platitudes and hollowness of 
conventional life, the picture had an unspeakable 
attraction. 

Near to Nature'' s Heart. 

She seemed to me the Gospel embodied. 

A Day of Fate. 

348 



November 15. 

Cowper. 1 73 1. 

Her sc he I. 1738. 

Lavater. 1741. 



November 16. 
John Bright. 181 1. 



349 



November 17. 

To the millions who are suffering in mind or 
body there certainly come in this world moments 
of repose, when pain ceases ; and the respite seems 
so delicious in contrast that it may well suggest the 
"rest that remaineth." 

Opem'ttg a C/iesttiui Burr. 

It seemed to him that the half-effaced, yet still 
lingering image of God rested upon her beautiful 
face more distinctly than he had ever seen it else- 
where. 

From yest to Earnest. 

November 18. 



" Tho' I'm a little mon, I sometimes ha' great 

tho'ts, an' I have learned to ken fra my gude wife 

there, and this sweet blossom o' the Lord's, that 

woman can bring a' the wourld to God if she will. 

That's what she can do." 

What Can She Do ? 

The garden, of all places, is the place of peace, 
where the true mystical heart's-ease should grow. 

Play and Profit. 



350 



November 17. 



NOVEMKER 18. 



351 



November iq. 



It was the look of a man who had discovered 
something divine and precious beyond words. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

"You believe truth to be absolutely binding ?" 
she asked, in a low voice. 

"Yes. In science, religion, ethics, or human 

action, nothing can last — nothing can end well that 

is not built squarely on truth." 

A Day of Fate. 

November 20. 



To the true and simple children of nature, who, 

without thought of self or the public eye, are 

quietly doing their duty in their own little niches, 

these moments of peace with strange thrills of joy 

are constantly coming. 

From yest to Earnest. 

Her face had that indescribable charm which 
suffering, nobly endured, imparts. I could have 
knelt to her like a Catholic to his patron saint. 

A Day of Fate. 



352 



November 19. 
Thorwaldsen. 1770. 



November 20. 



353 



November 21. 

She is a modern and fashionable Undine, and 
has never yet received a woman's soul. The ^ood 
Lord deliver me from trying to awaken it, as did 
the knight of old in the story, by swelling the long 
list of her victims. I can scarcely imagine a more 
pitiable and abject creature than a man (once sane 
and sensible) in thraldom to such a tantalizing 
semblance of a woman. She would no more ap- 
preciate his devotion than the jackdaw the pearl 
necklace it pecked at. 

A Face Illumined. 

She is a child with those children, looking and 
acting like them. A moment later she will be a 
self-possessed young lady, with a quick, trained 
intellect that I can scarcely cope with. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

November 22. 

All I can do is just cling to my hope in God, 

while I cry like a child that has lost itself and all 

it loves in a thorny wilderness. 

A Pace Illumined. 

As he entered the pulpit that morning his face 
was radiant with the purest human love, as well as 
love to God. So far from being inqpngruous, the 
one seemed to kindle and intensify the other. 
Though his sermon was simplicity itself, he spoke 
as one inspired. His message now was a gospel, 
and came to his hearers as the angel's announce- 
ment (which was his text) to the shepherds. 

From yest to Eartiest. 

354 



November 21. 



November 22. 
George Eliot [M. Cross.) 1820. 



355 



November 23. 

When people are " out of sorts," and things are 
going- wrong, the disposition to blame somebody 
or something is almost universal. But we think 
that it will be found a safe general rule, that the 
nobler the nature, the less worthy of blame, the 
greater tendency to blame self rather than any- 
thing else. 

Barriers Burtied Away. 

I am not in the least like a heroine in a romance. 
I live on the most substantial food rather than 
moonlight, and usually have an excellent appetite. 

What Call She Do ? 

November 24. 



You have the best and kindest heart of any 
woman in the world. 

If sorrow comes, oh, turn not to the world, for 

the best thing in it can give no peace, no rest. 

Simply do right, and leave the results with Him 

who said, even under the shadow of His cross, 

" My peace I give unto you," 

A Day of Fate. 



356 



November 23, 



November 24. 

Spinoza, 1632. 

Grace Darling. 1805. 



357 



November 25, 

The frosts of autumn therefore do not mean 
death. They merely put Nature to rest when her 
proper bedtime comes, and winter soon after tucks 
her away under a fleecy blanket until the call of 
spring awakens. 

But when disease attacks tree or plant, they may 
die even in the midst of spring showers and sum- 
mer sunshine. It is sin, not death, that destroys 
man. All that death need mean is sleep, and a 
change for the better. 

Sleep then, my garden ! I know you will 
awaken, like some dear friends whose ej^es I have 
seen closed, and their bodies, like the precious 
seed, covered deeply in the grave. 

Play and Profit. 

" Well, this is a time of thanksgiving, and never 
before in all my life has my heart seemed so full of 
gladness and gratitude." 

A Day of Fate. 

November 26. 
She was the type of multitudes of her fair sisters, 
who, with sparkling eyes, look out upon life in its 
morning to see only what it offers to them, and not 
the tasks it furnishes them for others. Only by ex- 
perience — only by God's logic of events do they 
find that their happiness is in these tasks — in un- 
selfish giving and doing. 

From Jest to Earnest. 

He was an honorable man. He is exceedingly 

shrewd in business, but I never heard of his doing 

anything that was not square. 

A Day of Fate. 

358 



November 25. 



November 26. 
Cowper. 1731. 



359 



November 27. 

Her profile was finely chiselled, and was lumi- 
nous with mind. The slightly higher forehead, the 
more delicately arched eyebrow, the deeper setting 
of her dark, changing eyes, that were placed wide 
apart beneath the overhanging brow, the short, 
thin, tremulous upper lip, were all indications of 
the quick, informing spirit which made her face 
like a transparency through which her thoughts 
could often be guessed before spoken ; and since 
they were good, noble, genial thoughts, they en- 
hanced her beauty. 

A Day of Fate. 

" I greatly wish to form a character worthy of 
respect, but I don't know how to set about it." 
" Commence by living simple and true." 

From Jest to Earnest. 

November 28. 

He was soon satisfied that she was more than 
pretty — that she was beautiful. Her features, that 
had seemed too thin and colorless, flushed with ex- 
citement, and her blue eyes, which he had thought 
cold and expressionless, kindled until they became 
lustrous. He felt, in a way that he could not de- 
fine to himself, that her face was full of power and 

mind. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 

He is becoming his former self, and winning re- 
spect by acting like a true gentleman. 

. A Face Illumined. 



360 



November 27. 



November 28. 



361 



November 29. 

It is comparatively easy to suggest good and 
generous action, but it is harder to perform. It is 
one thing to preach, and quite another to practise. 
You have had the hard part — the practising, and 
yet have done it as if it were not hard, as duty 
seldom is when performed in the right spirit ; and 
therefore deserve the greater credit. 

Fro7n yest to Eai-Jiest. 

She is very, womanly, but she is singularly 

strong. 

A Day of Fate. 

November 30. 



He felt, at times, like one consumed with fever- 
ish thirst, and that her conversation, at once so 
childlike and intelligent, so natural and yet tinged 
with the supernatural, was like a cool mountain 
rill, sweet and sparkling, as it issued into the light 
from its mysterious source in the heart of the hills. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 

"Your philanthropy is very wide." 

A Face Illumined. 



362 



NOVEMHER 29. 

Sir Philip Sidney. 1554. 



November 30. 
Dean {^ Jonathan) Swift. 1667. 



363 



The severe north-east storm had expended it- 
self during the night, and its fine, sharp, crystals 
had changed into snow-flakes. As an angry man 
after many hard, cutting words relents somewhat 
and speaks calmly if still coldly, so Nature, that 
had been stingingly severe the evening before, was 
now quietly letting fall a few final hints of the 
harsh mood that was passing away. Even while 
he looked, the sun broke through a rift over the 
eastern mountains and lighted up the landscape as 
with genial smiles. It shone, not on an ordinary 
and prosaic world, but rather one that had been 
touched by magic during the night and transformed 
into the wonder-land of dreams. 

The trees that in the dusk of the previous night 
had writhed and groaned and struck their frozen 
branches together as despairing anguish might 
gesticulate, now stood serene, and decked more 
daintily than June would robe them. 

Whiter even than the pink-tinged blossoms of 
May, was the soft wet snow that encased every 
twig, limb, and spray. The more he looked, the 
more the beauty and the wonder of the scene grew 
upon him. The sun was dispersing the clouds and 
364 



adding the element of splendor to that of beauty. 
It became one of the supreme moments of his life 
when in the vanishing beauty of an earthly scene 
he received an earnest of the more perfect world 
beyond. 

"With the exception of the broad dark river," 
he thought, "this might be the millennial morn, 
and Nature standing decked in her spotless ascen- 
sion robes, waiting in breathless expectancy." 

From yest to Earnest. 



365 



December i. 

She was a pale, delicate little lady, with a face 
sweetened rather than hardened and embittered by 
time. If, as some believe, the flesh and the spirit, 
the soul and the body, are ever at variance, she 
gave the impression at first glance that the body 
was getting the worst of the conflict. But in truth 
the faintest thoughts of strife seemed to have no 
association with her whatever. vShe appeared so 
light and aerial that one could imagine her flying 
over the rough places of life, and vanishing when 
any one opposed her. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

Women usually idealize the men they love into 
something very different from what they are. 
Heaven knows that I was not a saint. 

A Day 0/ Fate. 

December 2. 

As, with the lightness of a fawn, she bounded 
through the newly fallen snow, she would exclaim 
with an ecstatic thrill of hope, 

" My robe, one day, will be as white and spark- 
ling, and the gems in my crown brighter than the 
icicle's gleam hanging over yonder ledge of rocks, 
God teaches me, even in winter, by such pretty 
things, what He is preparing for His children." 

Near to Nature^s Heart. 

But God will not let a life of prayer and true 

love be wasted. 

Barriers Burned Away. 



366 



December i. 



December 2, 



367 



December 3. 

A heart aglow with gentle feeling and genial 

good-will, like a maple-wood fire on a hospitable 

hearth, that warms all who come within the sphere 

of its influence. 

A Face Illumined. 

She felt herself to be a true priestess of Nature, 

capable of understanding and interpreting her 

voices and hidden meanings — of catching her 

evanescent beauty and of fixing it on the glowing 

canvas. 

Barriers Burned Away. 

December 4. 

' ' Nothing can compensate for the absence of a 
warm, kind heart, and the nature that is without it 
is like a home without a hearth-stone and a fire ; 
the larger and more stately it is, the colder and 
more cheerless it seems." 

Knight of the Nineteetith Century. 

" She could be a true artist, perhaps a great one, 
for she can feel. She has a heart. She has a 
taste and skill in touch that few can surpass." 

Barriers Burned Away. 



368 



December 3. 



December 4. 
Thomas Carlyle. 1795. 



369 



December 5. 



Never did a day open with fairer promise. 
There was a cloudless sky and a crystal earth. 
The mystic peace of Christmas seemed to have 
been breathed even into bleak December. 

From Jest to Ear ?z est. 

We often never know ourselves or our need until 

after we have failed miserably under the stress of 

some strong temptation. 

A Day 0/ Fate. 



December 6. 

Every rustling leaf that fluttered in the gale, but 

did not fall, called to her with its tiny voice : 

"Cling to your place, as we do, till the frost of 

age or the blight of disease brings the end in God's 

own time and way." 

A Face Illiitnined. 

He was not one who could calmly meet an 

emergency and manfully do his best, suffering 

patiently meanwhile the ills that could not be 

averted. He could lead a cavalry charge into any 

kind of danger, but he could not stand still under 

fire. 

Without a Home. 

370 . 



December 5. 
Marie Stuart. 1542. 



December 6. 
Caroline B. Sou they. 1787. 



371 



December 7. 

When at times every branch, spray, and twig 
was encased with snow, and the evergreens were 
bending beneath their iieecy burdens, she would be 
half wild with delight at the beauty of the scene, 
and would cheer her mother by saying, 

" See what God can do in a single night. Won't 
our mansions in heaven, which we so often read 
about, be beautiful, mother? for he has had ever 
so many years in which to prepare them." 

Near to Nature's Heart. 

General good-will is as cold and thin as moon- 
shine. One ray of sunlight that warms some par- 
ticular thing into life is worth it all." 

A Face Illumined. 

December S. 

Her face was a beautiful transparency, through 
which shone those traits which made her, to me, 
pre-eminent among women. 

A Day 0/ Fate. 

Though the face of nature was so white, it was 
not the face of death. There was a sense of move 
ment and life which was in accord with their own 
spirits and rapid motion. Snow-birds fluttered 
and twittered in weedy thickets by the way-side, 
breakfasting on the seeds that fell like black specks 
upon the snow. The bright sunlight had lured 
the fox-squirrels from their moss-lined nests in 
hollow trees, and their shrill bark was sometimes 
heard above the chime of the bells. 

From yest to Earnest. 

372 



December 7. 



December 8. 



373 



December 9, 
" I struggled vainly and almost hopelessly 
against my peculiar weaknesses and temptations 
and sorrows until I heard God saying, ' Come, my 
child, let us work together. It is my will you 
should do all you can yourself, and what you can- 
not do I will do for you.' Since that time I have 
often had to struggle hard, but never vainly. 
There have been seasons when my burdens grew 
so heavy that I was ready to faint ; but after ap- 
pealing to my heavenly Father, as a little child 
might cry for help, the crushing weight would pass 
away, and I became able to go on my way re- 
lieved and hopeful." 

K7iight of the Nineteenth Century. 

"Oh, you are very gentle, very delicate, and 
you will be misunderstood ; but you have the 
strongest strength there is — a kind of strength 
that will carry you through everything, though it 
cost you dear." 

Without a Home. 

December 10. 

"You have been truth and honesty itself." 

Without a Home. 

The touch of her words and manner, if we may 
so speak, had in it a kindliness and regard for 
others to which even the most callous respond. 
Patient self-forgetfulness is the most God-like and 
the most winning of all the graces. 

From yest to Earnest. 



374 



December 9. 
John Milton. 1608. 



December 10, 
William Lloyd Garrison, 1805. 



375 



December ii. 

This was my only chance to live beyond the 

brief hour of my life. If I could only have won 

for myself a place among the great names that the 

world will ever honor, I might with more content 

let the candle of my existence flicker out when it 

must. 

Ba7-riers Burned Away. 

The ever-greens still bent beneath their beauti- 
ful burdens, some straight cedars reminding one 
of vigorous age, where snowy hair and beard alone 
suggest the flight of years. 

From yest to Earnest, 

December 12. 

"It would be a very foolish thing for me to 
listen to any more of such monstrous flattery. Or 
perhaps you are satirical and take this roundabout 
way of telling me that I'm human like yourself." 

A Face Illumined. 

"She seems so real and substantial, and yet so 
intangible. Her defensive armor is perfect, and I 
cannot get near or touch her unless she permits 
it. The sincerest compliment glances off. Out 
of her kindness she helps me and does me good ! 
She bewitches and sways me by her spells, but I 
might as well seek to imprison a spirit of the air as 
to gain any hold upon her. I wonder who or what 
she was thinking of, that such dreamy, tender 
smiles should flit across her face ?" 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 
376 



December ii. 
Berlioz. 1803. 



December 12. 



377 



December 13. 



The most effective sermons, after all, are those 
which are embodied. The Word of God was a 
living person — a Divine Man. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 

"I tell thee what it is, Richard, I'm one that 
sticks to my friends through thick and thin." 

A Day of Fate. 



December 14. 

The sun had sunk so low as to fill the forest 

with a sombre shade ; the happy life that had 

sported around her was hushed and hidden, and 

the wind now sighed mournfully through the trees. 

Gloom and darkening shadows had taken the place 

of the light and joyousness she first had seen. In 

the face and voices of nature, as in those of earthly 

friends, the changes are often so great that we are 

tempted to ask in dismay, are they — can they be 

the same ? 

A Face Illumined. 



378 



I 



December 13. 

Dean Stanley. 181 5. 

Heinrich Heine. 1799. 



December 14, 



379 



December 15. 

"You have become a genuine woman. The ex- 
pression of your face has changed, and it has be- 
come a fine example of the truth, that even beauty- 
follows the law of living growth — from within out- 
ward. Higher thoughts, noble principle, and un- 
selfishness are making their impress. I see the 
change distinctly, and I feel it still more. You 
have won my honest respect. 

A Day of Fate. 

He was as kind and considerate as possible, but 
she saw from the old and well-remembered expres- 
sion of his eyes that he would carry out his own 
will nevertheless. 

Knight of the Ni7ieteejith Ceiitu7-y. 

December t6. 



You all need the kind, patient, faithful Friend 
that I found so long ago. No evil, no misfortune 
can come into any human life that is beyond his 
power to remedy and finally banish forever. 

A Face Illumined. 

His bearing was manly and erect, and marked 
by a certain quiet dignity which inevitably char- 
acterizes all who are honestly trying to do right. 
Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 



380 



December 15. 



December 16. 
Jane Austen. 1775. 



381 



December 17. 

A few moments later and we were all under the 
spell of that exquisite melody which can fitly give 
expression to the deepest and tenderest feelings 
and most sacred aspirations of the heart. 

"If a message is given to me I will not be 
silent ; if not, it would be presumptuous to speak. 
But my prayer is that the Spirit whom we worship 
may speak to thee, and that thou wilt listen." 

"But kindness and charity are omnipotent." 
" Yes, if thee turns to Omnipotence for therri." 

A Day of Fate. 

December 18. 

If he had spoken of duty, obligation, of truth in 
the abstract, his tones would have been like the 
sound of a wintry wind. But he had spoken of a 
Friend, as tender, patient, and helpful as he was 
powerful. What was far more, he spoke with the 
strong convincing confidence of personal knowl- 
edge. 

She seems to have learned the art of making 
every day of our lives a blessing. 

A Face Illumined. 



382 



December 17. 

Beethoven, 1770. 

Sir H. Davy. 1778. 

JoJm G. Whittier, 1807. 



December 18. 

C. Wesley. 1708. 

C. M. von Weber. 1786. 



3S3 



December 19. 



"Could God have made a nobler woman ?" 

The love of God is ever best taught and best 
understood, not as a doctrine, but when embodied 
in some large-hearted and Christlike person. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 



December 20. 



** A man who understands the beauties of a 

landscape so well that he could make them visible 

even to my dim eyes." 

A Face Illumined. 

Her character had the exquisite beauty and 

fragrance which belongs to a rare flower to which 

all the conditions of perfect development have 

been supplied. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 



384 



December 19, 



December 20, 

• 



385 



December 21. 



"He has exceptional opportunities, and might 
be the knight-errant of our age. If in earnest, 
and on the right side, he can forge a weapon out 
of public opinion that few evils could resist." 

A Day 0/ Fate. 

" Your frankness is certainly as transparent as 
those snow-crystals there." 

From yest to Earnest. 



December 22. 

Not that he was ever rude to any one in any cir- 
cumstances, but he could politely freeze objection- 
able persons out of a room as effectually as if he 
took them by the shoulders and walked them out. 
There was so much in his surroundings and ante- 
cedents to sustain his quiet assumption, that the 
world was learning to say, "By your leave," on 

all occasions. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Cetitury. 

She had inherited her mother's gentleness, she 

also had her readiness to suffer anything for the 

sake of one she loved. 

Near to Nature's Heart. 

386 



DeCEMBKR 21. 

Jean Racine. 1639, 
Disraeli. 1805. 



December 22. 



387 



December 23. 



He managed to keep the even tenor of his way, 
but it was often as the soldier makes his weary 
march in the enemy's country, fighting for and 
holding, step by step, with difficulty. 

Knight of the Nineteenth Century. 

" Don't be superstitious and sentimental. The 
life of a Christian means honest, patient work." 

A Face Illumined. 



December 24. 



He was already winning a place among men on 
the ground of what he was and could do himself. 
It were hard to say which were the stronger mo- 
tive, his ambition or the love of his art. 

A Face Illujnined. 

The extraordinary graces of her person were but 
the reflex of her richly cultivated mind. 

From yest to Earnest. 



388 



December 23. 

R. Arkivrig/it 1732, 

Champollioti. 1790. 



December 24. 
Matthew Arnold. 1822. 



3^9 



December 25. 

Christmas comes at the darkest and dreariest 
season of the year, making short, cold days, and 
longer, colder nights the holiday season, just as He, 
whose birth the day commemorates, comes to hu- 
man hearts in the darkest and coldest hours of des- 
olation. Even in the great city there were few 
homes so shadowed by poverty and sorrow that they 
were not brightened by some indications of the 

hallowed time. 

Without a Ho}7ie. 

We value that gift most which we receive from 

the friend we value most. 

From yest to Earnest. 

December 26. 



Peace sat serenely on his brow. 

" She had become true to nature," he thought, 

' ' and like nature is full of mysterious changes, for 

which we know not the cause. At one time it is a 

sharp north wind, again the south wind. This 

morning there was a sudden shower of tears, and 

before it was over the sunlight of smiles flashed 

through them." 

Near to Nature's Heart. 



390 



Decemhf.k 25. 



I)EcEMni:R 26. 
T. Gray. 1716, 



39^ 



December 27. 



He cned unto the Lord .for strength and help, 
and almost lost consciousness of the service in his 
earnest prayer for true manhood and courage to go 
forward. And the answer came ; for a sense of 
power and readiness to do God's will, and withal a 
strange hopefulness, inspired him. 

Barriers Burned Away, 

She lives near to heaven, and knows its mind. 
Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



December 28. 



1 would like him for a friend very much. 

What Can She Do ? 

" How piquant she is ! I do not fear her quick, 
flame-like spirit, when it is combined with so much 
conscience and principle." 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



392 



December 27. 
John Kepler. 157 1. 



December 28. 



393 



December 29. 

"You have the courage that a veteran general 
most values in a soldier. You might be half dead 
from terror, but you wouldn't run away." 

A Day of Fate. 

She did not hold, as many seem to, with the old 
colored exhorter, that the right method was to 
" fust make 'em feel drefful bad, and next make 
'em feel drefful good, and you've got 'em." To 
her, no matter what the burden, it was simply lead- 
ing the heavy laden to the strong Divine Friend as 
people were brought to Him of old, and establish- 
ing the personal relations of love, faith, and fol- 
lowing. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 

December 30. 



" In the grand consciousness of right, and in his 

faithful performance of duty, I believe his face was 

as serene as the aspect of Mr. Yocomb when he 

looked at the coming storm. As far as peace is 

concerned, his heaven began on earth. I envy 

him." 

A Day of Fate. 

Her words proved that she was a thoughtful 

woman, and could be the intelligent companion of 

any man. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



394 



Decemuer 29. 



December 30, 



395 



December 31. 

I have been in sore temptations and deep dis- 
couragement. My heart at times has seemed break- 
ing with sorrow. Mine has been the common lot. 
But when the storm was loudest and most terrible, 
His hand was on the helm, and now I am entering 
the quiet harbor. There has been much that was 
dark and hard to understand ; there is much still ; 
but there is plenty to prove that my Heavenly 
Father is leading me home as a little child. 

Opening a Chestnut Burr. 



?9& 



December 31. 



397 



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